Chapter Twelve
Three days later, the roar of a motorcycle engine drew everyone's attention and they rushed topside to see who it was. No one was really surprised to see Logan, but they were surprised to see the blond sitting behind him.
"Wow, he actually got Emma," Remy said, putting a possessive arm around Rogue's shoulders. He wanted Logan to know that he had no intention of leaving Rogue alone, no matter how much the feral man threatened him.
Logan looked over at them as he got off the bike but quickly looked away, scowling. As they dismounted the bike, it soon became apparent that Emma was actually handcuffed to Logan, and Remy had to smile. He didn't much care for Logan's methods when they were directed at him, but he could appreciate his brute force in other situations.
Emma glared at everyone as Logan dragged her closer to the others.
"One telepath," he said to Storm. "How's cerebro coming?"
"We finished yesterday."
Logan grunted an acknowledgement. "I'll lock her in the store room until she's ready to cooperate."
Storm looked hesitant but didn't stop him. Hank stepped up beside her.
"Do you think this is wise?" he asked.
Remy and Rogue had also made their way over.
"She may not look like she wants to help, but she could have disabled Logan with a psychic blast if she wanted to. Part of her wants to be here." Remy explained.
"He's right," Rogue added. "When I absorbed her, I could see that she felt guilty about what the club were doing, that's why she left. I think she's willing to help but her pride is stopping her."
Hank nodded thoughtfully while Storm frowned. She felt out of her depth making these decisions but if Rogue and Remy agreed that she would help, then she had to listen to them. She missed the professor though, his reason, logic and compassion always made reaching a decision much easier. She also knew that he wouldn't be happy that Emma Frost had essentially been kidnapped but then he wasn't here, and desperate times call for desperate measures.
They let Emma stew for a few hours then after dinner, Remy took her a plate of food. Logan wanted to be the one to do it but Remy argued that as her ex (they didn't need to know it was only a two night stand) and a not-so-good guy himself, he had the best chance of getting through to Emma.
Rogue hated the idea of him spending time with Emma, but she also knew that he was right and probably did stand the best chance of securing Emma's help, so she kept quiet. She was vaguely aware that at one time, she would have either yelled or sulked but now, while she most definitely was upset, she kept her composure, outwardly at least.
Remy loaded up a plate and Rogue expected him to just leave but as he passed behind her, he stopped and dropped a kiss on her hair. His way of telling her that she had nothing to worry about. Which she knew. Unfortunately logic had little to do with her feelings and she still worried. Even if she didn't know that they had slept together, surely anyone would worry about their boyfriends meeting a beautiful woman, who dressed like a hooker, in a locked closet, wouldn't they?
Instead she busied herself supervising the clean up. It didn't need supervision since the kids were used to following the chore rota, but Rogue couldn't stop herself interfering and issuing instructions.
Down the hallway, Remy nodded to Logan, who insisted on standing watch outside the room while Remy went in. Logan unlocked the door and Remy stepped inside. There were no comforts here because it was meant to house cleaning supplies, not people, nevertheless, Emma had turned a bucket upside down to act as a chair and looked quite at home.
"Brought you some dinner," Remy said handing her a plate.
Emma accepted it without comment. Remy turned another mop bucket over and sat opposite her.
"What are you even doing here?" Emma asked with disdain.
"The friend I introduced you to is an X-Man."
Emma raised a haughty eyebrow. "You must have it bad."
"Somethin' like that," Remy chuckled. "But that don't matter right now."
"So you're here to play good cop?"
"You know me, chère, I don't play games. I'm here to tell you how it is." He gave her a moment to process his words before continuing. "I know you ain't a coward, Emma, and I know you ain't as bad ass as you like to make out. These people are hurting because of something you and your friends did. Why not make it right and try to help them?"
"I can't help. No one can help." She enunciated each word as though she were talking to a simpleton. "The Phoenix cannot be controlled or contained. It is as old as humanity itself, maybe older, and it is far more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
"If that's true, how come you were helping the Hellfire Club? No offence, chère, but the thing you do best is look after number one."
"I saw inside Jean's head," Emma admitted "We thought it was prudent to look into her mind before the attack, so that we had a clear picture if what we were dealing with. As the strongest psychic, I was chosen for the task as too many of us trying to enter her head would be noticed. That's how I know everything about the Phoenix, because it showed me, and that's why I left the club."
"Emma, the X-Men aren't going to ask you to defeat the Phoenix, just help find it, and maybe help the professor if you can."
"Professor Xavier?"
"That's him. The Phoenix did something to him and he's in a coma."
Emma was silent for a moment, contemplating her options.
"I will look in the professors head and see what happened to him, but I make no promises about being able to wake him up."
"Fair enough. And tracking Jean?"
"You're on your own," she declared. "But maybe if I can wake the Professor up, you won't need me."
Remy nodded slowly. At least it was something.
"I'll tell Logan, see if we can't do something about getting you a real bed for the night."
"That would be appreciated."
Remy stopped at the door and turned back. "I wouldn't think about escaping if I were you. Logan is a very light sleeper and he can smell deceit on people." He wasn't quite sure if that was true but it seemed like it could be. "Trust me when I say, you don't want to be on his bad side."
"Like you are by dating his favourite student?"
Remy flashed her a rakish smile. "You know me, chère, I always did like to live dangerously." He knocked twice on the door and Logan opened it. "Emma is going to see if she can help the professor. Can we find her accommodations for the night?"
"What about Jean?"
"One thing as a time. Besides if she can wake up Xavier, you won't need her any more."
Logan grunted and looked into the small room at Emma, who was delicately eating her food as best she could with her fingers.
"Don't go anywhere," Logan told her before slamming and locking the door on her. "Come on, Gumbo, let's see who wants to share a room with the white bitch."
They headed down the hallway.
"Senior X-Men to the war room!" Logan yelled as they walked.
Remy couldn't help but wonder if the Wolverine did everything in such a loud and boorish manner. If so, it was no wonder that he was still single.
When the X-Men had filed in and taken their seats, Remy explained what he had got Emma to agree to.
"We don't have a telepath any more, so how do we know she's telling the truth?" Logan asked when Remy had finished. "How do we know she's not going to kill the professor or something?"
"What would she gain from that?" Storm asked.
"Maybe she is liking to cause trouble?" Colossus suggested.
"Can't you smell if she's up to something? Kurt asked Logan.
"She's smelled shifty ever since I picked her up. I can't tell if that's her normal scent, or if she's always up to something."
"But she has to know that if she tries anything, Logan will gut her like a fish, right?" Kitty asked.
"I can find out what she's thinking," Rogue finally added. "Even if she has mental shields in place, they won't stop me. Of course, if I hold on long enough to make sure she's not a threat, she'll likely be out for a few hours at least."
"You could absorb her now, then she can sleep it off," Logan suggested.
"Unless she comes up with her plan overnight," Rogue added.
"I think we should trust her," Hank finally added. "Kitty and Storm are both right, and I will be monitoring Charles' vital signs throughout the whole procedure. I believe I will know if she tries anything untoward."
Everyone agreed with Hank, except Remy who, while he agreed, felt that it wasn't his place to vote.
"All right, so who wants to bunk with her tonight?" Logan asked.
After some debate, it was decided that Emma should room with Storm and that her current room mate, Rahne, should bunk with Kitty overnight.
"Great," Logan said without a hint of enthusiasm. "Meet back here at 10 tomorrow morning and we'll begin."
With that decided, the meeting broke up and everyone headed their separate ways. Rogue and Remy returned to the Winebago to find Bobby, Jamie and Ray in there. While half of the gym had been turned into a rec room of sorts, there wasn't exactly much to do there, and breaking in to play Remy's games or watch his TV seemed to have become a pastime in the mansion.
So far, Remy hadn't minded the intrusions but tonight he just wanted some time alone with Rogue. With everything that was going on, not to mention there being kids everywhere, they hadn't had much time together and although she acted normally, Remy had the feeling that Rogue was distancing herself from him. He put it down to new relationship nerves (even though he hadn't encountered any such thing before) and tried not to be too bothered by it. Besides, he could be imagining it, it wasn't like she was actively avoiding him or anything, she just seemed to be spending an awful lot of time with her friends lately. Then again, she hadn't seen then in 4 months, so maybe it was normal.
It could also be stress. It had to be quite a change for her to be back among her friends and then her closest friend, Logan, had gone postal over Remy. She deserved some space, so Remy tried not to crowd her too much.
However, he wasn't used to being surrounded by people all the time and he needed some time, just him (and Rogue) to just unwind. Not to mention that he'd been on guard ever since Logan had returned.
"Give is some space," he ordered, and for once the kids shuffled out without argument. "So, chère, how about we crack a bottle of wine and put on a movie?"
Rogue nodded and after picking a movie, they settled down on the couch, side by side. Remy wasn't having that though, and ducked down under her arm, placing his head on her chest. Rogue didn't argue and pulled her glove off with her teeth to begin running her fingers through his hair. It had grown out quite a bit since his days with Magneto and it was so thick and luxurious that she found it difficult to resist. Plus, it was the only part of him that she could touch without gloves.
She heard him sigh contentedly and smiled. For all his ill gotten wealth, Remy really was an easy man to please. He liked the extravagant things in life, like expensive wine and god-only-knew-how-much Winnebagos, but his enjoyment of these things was never as big as when Rogue and Sarah gave him a hug, or when he spent time his brother and Mercy, or when he was cooking. She was coming to understand that money was simply a tool to Remy that made his life easier, and he had no particular love for money or possessions. If he had cared about possessions, there was no way he'd let the kids climb all over the motorhome!
She was surprised by how well he'd gotten along with the kids but then as she was discovering, he was basically a big kid himself at heart. He could be responsible though, and indeed while he worked for Magneto she'd seen very little of this playful side of him. If she needed any more proof of his maturity, his well planned and executed rescue of her was enough.
While their personalities weren't alike, they really did have a lot in common, which helped cement the bond between them. And anyway, she wasn't entirely sure that them being different was a bad thing. Someone with her temper needed someone laid back or there would be fights every day. Plus he could calm her down like few others could, and he could even help with her panic attacks.
He deserved someone who appreciated all his finer qualities, like Rogue could. She doubted that Emma was even aware that there was another, deeper side to him than the charming thief-cum-playboy. She didn't deserve him. Most of the women he had been with probably didn't deserve him.
'You're lying to him, you don't deserve him either!' she thought, which was true. Here she was singing his praised to herself, when all the time she was keeping part of herself separate from him.
It was the smart thing to do. It was the shrew thing to do. It was also the cruel thing to do. It wasn't fair to him to be with him without properly being with him. Touch aside, not completely opening her heart to him was unfair, because she was sure that he wasn't keeping any part of himself from her. She didn't deserve him, but she also couldn't leave him. She loved him, yet she was terrified of what loving him could mean. She just wasn't used to trusting people and it was only necessity that had caused her to trust Remy. But he could still turn on her.
She never expected the X-Men to let her down either, but even they hadn't been able to rescue her from Weapon X. Three months she had been there. Three months of fear and terror, feeling abandoned, forsaken and utterly desolate.
They had assured her that they had tried to find her, that they had done everything they could, but she wanted to scream at them that 'It wasn't enough! You should have tried harder!'
She knew she was being unfair, but that was how she felt and that was why she cut any conversation about her disappearance short, because if she heard too many more excuses, she would scream and yell enough to put even her worst temper tantrums to shame.
She also had to wonder if they would have continued looking for her after what happened with Jean. Kitty had let it slip that since the mansion blew up, they hadn't been looking for Rogue. Cerebro was broken and to be fair, they did have a giant flame-bird to deal with, but why did Jean have to take precedence over her every single time? She was findable, Remy had found her which was proof enough, but the almighty X-Men couldn't!
What did it say about the good guys, that it took her terrorist mother and a mercenary thief to find her?
In her calmer moments, she knew it said that no one was infallible, good guys or bad guys, but most of the time she was too resentful to think clearly. And now here she was, trying to distance herself from the man who had allowed himself to be captured and risked death to save her.
"I must be crazy," she said softly.
"Absolutely certifiable," Remy answered, burrowing deeper into her chest. "But it's one of the things I love about you."
Rogue froze. He had said the L word.
"Don't stop," Remy protested at her stilled hand, nudging her with his head to continue playing with his hair. She resumed but she wasn't taking the same pleasure in it that she had before.
The L word.
Of course he hadn't said 'I love you' exactly. In fact it was a rather informal use of the word and she was pretty sure that there were at least five things a day that pleased Kitty so much that she had to declare, 'Oh my God, I just love... insert actor/movie/song/clothing/nail polish etc as applicable'.
Yes, that was what Remy meant. He didn't mean that he was in love with her, he just liked her a lot and had used a colloquialism. He didn't really love her, certainly not in the 'kindred spirits', 'the one', 'soul mates' kind of way.
Suddenly thirsty, she downed the rest of her wine in one go.
"You want some more wine?" she asked, knowing that Remy hadn't taken a sip since he'd cuddled into her.
Reluctantly he sat up. "I'll get it." He took her glass and went to the fridge.
"Are you trying to get me drunk?" she teased.
"Am I that obvious?" he played along.
"You are not as suave as you think you are, Mr LeBeau."
"Is that so?" He gave her the big puppy-dog eyes as he handed her glass back.
Rogue held out for as long as she could, but her defeat was inevitable. How could she hold out against those beautiful eyes? How could anyone?
"All right, fine! You are every inch the charming, handsome, gorgeous Cajun that you believe yourself to be."
Remy grinned, threw himself back down onto the sofa and plopped his head into her lap. Satisfied that Remy wasn't about to declare his undying love, Rogue absently played with his hair again.
Rogue was up earlier than Remy the next day, which was unheard of. The problem was that she was falling for him and that scared her. She had tossed and turned all night, feeling frightened of how much she liked him, then guilt at the fact that she was hiding her control from him.
She quickly dressed then headed into the basement to help get breakfast ready. Remy had pretty much taken over dinner, but someone else had to do lunch and breakfast. Today wasn't her day but she had a lot of nervous energy to kill. Remy wasn't long in joining her and he looked tense when he came in, though he visibly relaxed upon seeing her.
"Rough night?" he asked.
"Yeah," she shrugged, no big deal.
"Nightmares?"
Rogue nodded unwilling to directly lie to him.
The kids didn't expect her to be there so early, so when Bobby ran into the kitchen, wearing Rogue's black satin bra over his P.J.s, he stopped stone dead.
Before Weapon X had kidnapped her, Rogue knew that she had been getting a handle on her temper, but she still had a mean temper, just better control over when she let it out. Since her rescue, she also knew that on the whole she had been acting very passive. She hated it but it was like passivity had been schooled into her and she couldn't help it. These days, her first reaction was usually fear or sadness rather than anger.
Rogue looked at Bobby in her bra and realised it meant both that he had been through her underwear, and that he had betrayed Remy's and her trust in allowing the kids to use the Winnebago. Her privacy had been invaded without permission. This was usually enough to anger anyone and especially a loner like Rogue. Now though, she had been without privacy for so long, she protected it even more fiercely than she could have believed. She felt violated.
Her anger bubbled over into white hot rage.
"Bobby!"
Bobby ran while his friends stayed frozen in place.
"You get your skinny little ass back here right this instant, boy! I am gonna make you wish that you were never born!"
Remy smiled as she ran out after him. He too had noticed Rogue's change in temperament and even though in the future it might be directed at him fairly frequently, he was pleased to see her temper back.
"Bobby, when I get my hands on you I'm going to see if it's true about there being more than one way to skin a brat!"
Remy laughed as her words clearly carried throughout the complex.
"What's going on?" Hank asked as he came in.
"Stand still and take your ass kicking like a man, Bobby!"
"Bobby stole Rogue's bra and was wearing it this morning."
"Ah." The man helped himself to the coffee that Rogue had brewed and sat down at the table.
"If you don't stop running, I'm gonna make castanets out of your testicles!"
Hank coughed while Remy chuckled. He poured his own coffee and sat down at the table just in time to see the other two boys try to slink off.
"Not so fast!" Remy called, causing them to freeze much like Bobby had. "Now, who went through Rogue's underwear draw?"
The boys looked at each other then to Remy.
"Bobby," Jamie and Ray said in unison.
"Duh, I mean who else?"
The boys looked at each other.
"Look, boys, you can be honest with me now, or you can face Logan in the danger room every day until you retire. You know how much he cares about Rogue. Your choice."
"We were both with him," Jamie admitted.
"Okay, come sit down." Remy gestured to two seats opposite him.
"I am gonna give you nightmares for the rest of your pathetically short life!"
"I know you boys can't imagine what Rogue went through and it's not my place to tell you, so I'm just gonnna ask you to close your eyes and imagine some things."
The boys looked at each other for a moment, then closed their eyes as he said.
"Now, imagine that you own nothing, not even underwear. Everything you own has been taken from you. You live in a glass cell, surrounded by people who can see everything you do, even peeing. When you take a shower, someone is always there to watch you. You are never alone. Then, at anyone's whim, you can be stripped naked while strangers poke and prod you in the name of science, cause you pain beyond your wildest imagination and all this time, they look at you, your most intimate places, like you are just a science project."
The boys gulped.
"Open your eyes," Remy commanded and they did. "Now, imagine you finally get out of that hell, you struggle to feel like a human being again... and you then find out that someone you trusted has invaded your privacy."
Both boys cheeks turned red with shame.
"Logan, if you don't let me go right this minute, I'm gonna see for myself just how hard it is to kill you!"
"We're sorry," Jamie said.
"Yeah, won't happen again." Ray added.
"No it won't, because you three are banned from my home."
"But you have the only games in this place!"
"And there isn't even a decent TV in this dump!"
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you went into my bedroom. Don't think I believe you were only rummaging through Rogue's things. Now get out of here before I remember how much you just hurt my Rogue."
The boys scrambled out of the kitchen as quickly as they could.
Hank raised his eyebrows as he looked at Remy. "I must say, I think you handled that remarkable well," he praised.
"I was a boy once too. Besides, I have a feeling they learned their lesson from Rogue's reaction."
"Quite." Hank smiled. "I didn't think there would ever be a day when I would enjoy Rogue's temper but I must say, it's good to have her back."
Remy smiled and cocked his head to the side, listening for more insults. "I guess Logan calmed her down."
"One can only hope. If not, poor Mr Drake may be a shadow of his former self."
Remy laughed.
A few minutes later, Logan ushered Rogue back into the kitchen. She looked mutinous.
"You okay, chère?"
"I would be if Logan hadn't intervened!"
"And I know that tomorrow, you would regret killing the Icecube. I'm doing this for your own good, kid."
"Don't worry Rogue, Bobby and his friends are banned from the Winnebago and today I'm gonna be putting a lock on the bedroom door.
"Bobby also earned himself two weeks of early morning training sessions," Logan added.
Rogue rolled her eyes and sat down at the table, beside Remy for a change. He couldn't help but notice that she often sat apart from him at mealtimes. Maybe it was her temper that caused the change today, or maybe she was afraid what Logan might try and do to him but either way, he was glad that she was back at his side.
"Are things always this exciting around here?" Emma asked as she strolled into the kitchen.
"You should see bingo night," Logan deadpanned.
After breakfast, Emma, Hank, Logan and Rogue went to the professors room, leaving Remy, Piotr and Storm to watch the kids.
Thinking that now would be a good time to get to know her friends a little better, Remy invited Kurt and Kitty to go with him to the hardware store with him. Both were anxious about their beloved professor, so both readily agreed, happy to have a distraction.
It wasn't actually that easy to fit a lock to a thin, sliding door, so Remy had to buy extra wood to make it a decent width before they could hollow it out for the clawbolt deadlock.
Rogue had spent a lot of time with Kurt and Kitty since she got back but she never wanted Remy to accompany her, so things were kind of awkward as they drove into town.
"So, you two just graduated high school right?" Remy asked, trying to break the ice.
"No," Kurt hung his head. "Thanks to everything that's been going on, we missed some of our final exams."
"We have to go back next year," Kitty added. "We don't have that many credits still to get, but I guess there's no way out of it."
"Maybe your professor will have an idea," Remy tried to cheer them up.
"Maybe," Kurt didn't sound like he believed it.
They lapsed into silence again.
"So, Kitty, you and Piotr seem friendly," Remy observed, earning himself a blush from the girl.
"Yeah, he's really nice."
"He's a good man," Remy said. "You could do a lot worse than him."
Once again silence reigned, until Kurt plucked up the courage to speak.
"Gambit, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure thing, blue."
"Why did you rescue my sister?"
"Because I owed her one and... and I just couldn't stand the thought of her with those monsters." It was as truthful as he was prepared to be.
"And why are you still here?"
Remy hesitated for a moment but finally decided that if he was to win her friends over, he had to be honest with them. "Because I love her."
"Does she love you too?" Kitty asked, leaning forward from her seat in the back and sounding rather excited.
"I don't know, petite. Truth be told, I don't even think she knows."
"What did she say when you told her?"
"I haven't told her." Remy turned to glance at Kitty. "She's been through a lot and I don't want to add to her burdens. Besides..." he really didn't want to admit this but in for a but in for a penny, in for a pound! "I think she's pulling away from me. If I tell her how I feel now, I think I'll lose her."
If he hadn't been so honest with them, Kurt probably wouldn't have admitted this to him, but he did.
"I think she loves you, Gambit, and I think she's scared of that love. I'm sure if you give her time, she will learn to accept how she feels."
"I sure hope so."
Throughout the rest of the day, Remy discovered that he and Kurt had a few things in common. Both had been abandoned as kids, both had grown up with a visible mutation, and both shared a love of pranks. He avoided most talk of the first two as they were probably difficult subjects for Kurt, but while Remy didn't get to pull many pranks any more, but he had lots of stories to tell.
He and Kitty also shared a love of fashion and although his interest was nothing compared to hers, they could still converse about it for a while. He and Kurt also had a few favourite bands in common, while he and Kitty both liked The Mutant Boys, who were the new 'in' band for rebellious teens but they had promise, musically speaking
By mid-afternoon the lock was in place and Remy had made himself two new friends. They would probably never be bosom buddies, but they could stand to be in each others company, which was what really mattered.
"Thank you both for your help today," Remy said as they cleaned up. "You won't tell Rogue about how I feel, will you?"
"I will not interfere in your relationship," Kurt said. "Rogue cares a lot for you and, unless you hurt her, that is all I need to know."
"My lips are like, totally sealed," Kitty grinned.
"Thank you. And petite?"
"Yeah?"
"Piotr likes art. Maybe you could suggest a visit to one of the museums around here."
"Thanks!" Kitty grinned. "That's a great idea. And in return, I give you my word that I will not phase anyone through this door." She threw a pointed look at Kurt.
"I wouldn't teleport anyone in here!" he sounded offended.
"Never thought you would, either of you," Remy assured them, though of course it had occurred to him that they were now probably the only two mutants here that could get in. "I know you both care too much about Rogue to do anything like that."
"Plus, Rogue can be like, really scary," Kitty grinned at him. "I used to be her room mate so believe me, I know exactly how much she likes her privacy."