The Ring (working title)
By Crimson and Chrome 42
Summary: Scott wonders about Rouge's attire.
She'd been gone for three months; when she'd returned she still protected her skin from head-to-toe. Her hair was a bit longer, her makeup, a bit darker, and her clothes were a bit more casual. She'd disappear periodically without so much of a word of warning or an explanation—she'd just be gone one morning. Then, she'd show up at breakfast another morning, as if she hadn't been gone fro three days. Sometimes it was three weeks, with her it was always in threes.
It was after one of these absences—one of the first, in fact—that he'd first noticed it. Sure, she wore other jewelry; everyone knew that she still Wolverine's dog tags around her neck. She wore earrings and she had other piercings as well—sometimes she'd come back with a new one. But this piece was different; before she'd left for the cure he'd never seen her wear rings on her slender fingers. This ring wasn't ostentatious; there were no big diamonds stones set into it—or stones of any kind. It wasn't terribly wide, about mid-width and it had a strip of flat, braided silver and yellow gold framed on either side with thinner strips of silver. She wore it on her left thumb.
Scott wasn't sure what about this little piece of jewelry caught his eye, or why it had so piqued his curiosity. Maybe it was that she'd left right after it had been announced that the "cure" was still available and when she'd returned she still protected herself from skin-to-skin contact. It could've been that Bobby had waited a week after she'd left before he'd moved on with her roommate, Kitty. It could also have been that since she'd returned a large number of students, even a few of the faculty, had been openly hostile towards her—viewing her as a traitor. Regardless of the reason, his curiosity was piqued.
After the announcement was made the first time she fairly flew to Professor for confirmation, almost not daring to hope. The ability to touch! To feel the warmth of another's skin on her own! The very thought made her ache with desire.
Shortly after the Alcatraz battle Logan left again, off following some almost non-existent lead to his past. Any excuse not to stick around, right? She'd made sure that Jimmy (the little boy whose mutation was at the core of the "cure") was settling in well before she, too, left.
She had some money saved up from odd jobs that she did around the city. Of course there was the money that the Professor gave her as a weekly allowance, but she didn't feel right using it for this. In fact, she rarely used it for anything, other than emergencies. She had put that money in a separate checking account which could only be accessed through a debit card or a pin number. Before she left, she left the debit card with a slip of paper with the pin scrawled on it in an envelope under the Professor's office door.
From the Professor's office she made her way to the garage, she found the keys to the motorcycle that the Professor had had purchased for Logan so that he would quit stealing Scott's bike—it didn't work. Grabbing the keys she slung her duffle bag across her back and rode off into the sunset.
A.N. Short, I know, but something's better than nothing, right? Anyway, my facts may not all be straight, but it's been awhile since I've seen any of the movies, so... Anyway, lemme know what ya think!
Cheers!
Crimson and Chrome 42