Originally Posted by
yogaflame
Forge was introduced as a weapons designer for the military industrial complex(specifically DARPA). He developed a weapon that would strip a super-powered being(any kind) of their powers. Rogue was wanted for a crime and Peter Gyrich used Forge's weapon, trying to depower her, but Forge slammed into him when he was firing and Storm took the shot instead of Rogue and lost her powers in a huge blast, which let Rogue escape in the confusion. Storm almost drowned in the Mississippi River and Forge took her to his home in Texas to help her recuperate.
Ororo was deeply depressed in losing her connection to the Earth/nature/the weather(her real power). Almost suicidal. Forge showed her he too had lost something(his hand and leg in the war), but didn't give up. They kinda fall for each other. But then Ororo learns the truth about the weapon which took her powers and who made it. She leaves Forge, hurt and betrayed, and returns to the X-Men for a while. She becomes hardened and deadly, leaning more into her fighting abilities and strategic mind. But eventually she realizes she needs her powers to be the best asset to the X-Men she can be, so she leaves the team for a while to find Forge and make him restore her powers.
This eventually leads to her being tricked by The Adversary(in the form of Forge's teacher, Naze) into stabbing Forge. The Adversary then throws the two of them into another dimension. Ororo tends to his wounds, feeling foolish for having been tricked so, but once Forge is stable, she leaves him to do some soul searching. She spends most of a year venturing to Africa and back, with no powers or technology(it is a virgin earth, no other humans, just animals and such), trying to find some resolution. She comes back to him and they have sex(for the first time). He has used the circuitry in his cybernetic limbs to create a device to restore her powers, and another to take them back to their own dimension. With her powers restored, she is able to power the device(maybe a spell?) to take them back.
They and the X-Men(and Freedom Force) fight the Adversary, but Forge must use the same spell he used on his Vietnam war buddies on the X-Men, so in essence he kills them and uses their lifeforce to hurl the Adversary out and lock the portal behind him. The whole world, including Forge and Mystique, think the X-Men are dead, but in actuality Roma has resurrected them and so begins the Outback era. The team had many adventures before Forge and Banshee go out in pursuit of them, and it is only in X-Tinction Agenda that Storm and Forge are reunited(small complication, Ororo is in a barely pubescent body, having been deaged by the Nanny...). Ororo is reaged to maturity by the end of that x-over and she and Forge begin dating again during the brief space adventure to get Xavier back into the fold(which then leads to the Muir Island/ShadowKing saga). Then before you know it, the Blue/Gold era is upon us and Forge proposes to Ororo. She needs a moment to think it over and goes flying. While she's gone, Forge goes to Jean and asks her if Ororo loves him. Jean totally makes the scene awkward and Forge gets all pissy. Storm comes back from her flight ready to say yes when Forge comes in, reads her for filth, retracts his proposal, and leaves with Mystique(who is all crazy since Destiny died in the Muir Island Saga). Left my girl crying on the balcony alone. I have hated him ever since.
They sorta went on a date or two here or there since(mostly in that early 90's period), but it was never again that serious, since Forge was on X-Factor and Storm was in X-Men. In the grand scheme of things, I think of Forge more as a plot device for Storm's development[during her depowered phase under Claremont]. While I am not totally in favor of the T'Challa romance either, I am glad the Forge 'ship has been firmly put to rest in the modern era.