*** IT'S BEEN TOO LONG CHÉRIE ***

It had been too long. Two years apart had been simple torture.

He had run the country from one end to the other, in search of...he didn't know what. After receiving the summon from his father, he had left without saying where he was going, leaving in mystery without goodbyes to his friends, without a goodbye to his love.

He didn't know why he had done what he had done, why he had left in the first place, and more important, why he had left the way he had. Maybe he was hiding from her. Maybe he was avoiding her. The truth is, Remy Lebeau was afraid. When it came to her, he was always afraid. Afraid she would get hurt, afraid she would never be able to touch, afraid. Once, when he she was his and he hers, he hadn't been afraid of losing her. Now, he made nightmares of it.

Maybe she had found someone else, maybe she had put her memories of him away...maybe she had forgotten him. He didn't want to think about it, but those thoughts kept pushing his mind to the limit. Always present, impossible to forget.

He had tried to put them away, drinking. It hadn't worked. As for women, they were not an option. He couldn't. Not with her in his mind and in his heart. Most of all, he didn't want to lay down with another woman. He wanted his chérie and nobody else.

She had poisoned his being...and he didn't want it any other way. Under his skin.

He shuddered at those thoughts. It made him more afraid then ever. When he had been away, he couldn't think about their reunion, it hadn't seem like reality. He simply couldn't. After what he'd done, it was impossible. Against his will, though, he was here, all emotions loose, demolishing him. He wanted to be here, so badly, but he could not not think of her reaction. Would she take him back? Would she laugh in his face? Would she...

"Rejetté [rejected]...dat's wha I'll be."

He had came even after those dark thoughts. He needed to clean his heart of all the doubts that were devouring it and making him less and less the man he had been. Because she was what made him the way he was. He needed her.

He hoped and dreamed with all his heart that she would take him back. The other version was not acceptable for him. He didn't want to ponder that second option because it made his heart squeeze tight, pain racing throughout his body. If it ever happened, he'll die. He sighed, eyes tearful.

He crossed the road and found himself in front of the gates. He took his staff out, clicked a button so the ends would lengthen and jumped across the gate. Silently he made his way to the front door but decided at the last moment to enter by the main balcony on the left side wing. The outdoor security system was pretty easy to avoid but the one inside...

***

The girl sat on her bed, thinking hard. She wasn't able to sleep. She had tried, it hadn't worked. She gave up her restless turning and got out of bed. Tiptoeing out of her room and down the corridor, she stopped at the kitchen to get a midnight snack then went on the balcony to eat it. A slight summer wind was blowing her hair out of her face, exposing her makeup-less, beautiful and serene face. Rogue sighted. She was at peace with herself. She got over her heartbreak. It didn't mean she didn't miss him.

"Ah hate you Remy."

He had left. Without saying anything to her. Not that he needed to. They weren't a couple. So why was it bothering her?

How could a man get under her skin like that? It had been two years, damn it! It didn't make any sense. Love is senseless. Yes, that was it, love is senseless. Huh, it was senseless and made people unhappy. So what's the point of its existence?

It had been two years. Things had changed since the time he left. Rogue had so many news to tell him. If he were here she'd tell him, well lots of things.

"Lahke Kurt's still with Amanda. Kitty is with Peter nahw, did yah know? Scott and Jean gaht married, we all knew it would happen sahmeday. We gaht new recruits...Logan is killing them all, lahke he did with ahs, well with the x-men, that is, not yah. The Prof also started a new team with the once new-recruits. Guess who's the leader? Ahf course, it's Bobby. He's takin' his job so seriously it's hilarious. He's a yahnger version of Scott...only in his leadership, though...Hank can develop the X-gene left dormant, did yah know...he won some special noble prize fahr that. He was so proud, just thinkin' of it it makes me smile..."

She could go on like that for hours. So much had happened. And when he'd ask about her, she would answer: "Me? Oh nothing special. Ah got a hold on mah powers, Ah can kiss now Remy..." And she'd wait for his reaction.

In her head she was seeing is self-centered reply: "A kiss from Remy, ma chérie, well dat could be arranged, no?" And he would lean down and their lips would meet...Surrounded by his love she would glow at their happiness.

Her memories were still with her. So much, she had the impression he was here besides her. But it was all fake, all in her head.

A tear slid down her cheek.

"Ah love you Remy."

***

That same man was standing in the shadows, listening intently to what she had just said.

"Rogue."

Her name escaped his lips in a whisper. It was choking him. He had missed the sight of her, her accent, the way she said his name, how she would act when surrounded by people and how she would act when they were the two alone, how she would frown at some meaning-less answer of his, the way she smiled, gorgeous smile, when she was happy, her emerald eyes...everything that was part of her. He still loved her, he never had any doubts about it. He knew she still loved him by listening to her words. But the pain she felt, would she be able to pass over it? He was aware his luck was precarious. Uncertain and afraid, he made his way to her side.

"Chérie, I luv you too."

The look of confusion and hurt made him want to take back his words and run away. She was rejecting him.

***

Her head whipped around and her big emerald eyes widened. A slight breath escaped her opened lips. Tears fell at a more rapid pace. How was she supposed to react? She had made herself at the idea that he would never come back for her, and here he was. She gulped and took a look at him. His hair had grown pass his ears end his mouth had acquired lines proof of some pain. Some things were unchanged, though. He still wore his ever- lasting trenchcoat. Her gaze went back to his eyes....his deep and beautiful red and black eyes. Those hadn't changed either. They still made her yearn to reach out to him.

"Remy."

He took at step forward at hearing his name, a step of hope. One step only. He wasn't sure she wanted him to. If he could he would have rushed over to her and took her in his arms. He needed to feel her warmth pressed against his body. He needed to feel she had not forgotten him.

Instead she crumbled back into her seat, still looking at him.

"Remy."

He didn't need anything else, he rushed to her side and went on his knees.

"Rogue, Rogue, ma chérie."

She felt as if her heart had been torn from her body, stepped over and then replaced to act as a poor excuse for a living force... She lifted her hand to his face but stopped before she actually touched him. His gloved hand captured it and squeezed it. She could see all the emotions in his eyes, all the pain and the doubt and the love...But he had left her.

"What are yah doin' here swamp-rat?"

He wasn't expecting denial, not from her. Maybe she truly despised him. "She hates me", he thought.

When she got up, sent him a dark look and walked towards the balcony's door, he knew for sure. He caught her wrist.

"Rogue, talk to me, please..."

"I don't have anything to tell yah, swamp-rat." She shook his hand off and stormed out of the balcony.

His worst fears were confirmed. He hadn't thought about that turn of events. He hadn't wanted too, it caused too much pain. In any case, here he was stuck with it. This was real, it wasn't some simulation he'd play in his head. Reality. It struck him in the face and he hit the floor, silent tears running down his face. Traces that once existed of his former arrogant self were gone.

***

Sobs are what woke up Kitty.

"What the hell?...Rogue?"

Kitty knew her maths...and Rogue plus crying definitely didn't equal a crying Rogue. Of course she had seen tears, in particular when Gambit had left, but sobs? Never.

The girl hopped out of bed and silently made her way to the other side of the room,. She sat on her best-friend's bed and put a hand on her arm.

"Rogue? Rogue, what is it?"

Rogue didn't even looked at her. A "leave me alone" was heard, muffled by the pillow.

"Like, Rogue, I want to help you. I've never heard you cry like that, what is it?"

Kitty was getting nervous : this was serious.

"Rogue?"

It seemed like an eternity before she replied.

"Remy's back." It was the first time Rogue opened up so rapidly without Kitty menacing her.

"Oh, Rogue, I'm sorry."

The other girl didn't say anything. Kitty opened up her arms and Rogue took refuge in it, crying for the most part of the night until both girls fell down asleep from exhaustion.

***

Rogue woke up with a start. She sat in her bed and looked around her. The clock showed 3: 34 AM. Kitty had fallen off the bed and lay there sleeping in a fetus-like position. Her own pillow was soaked by her tears. She still felt like crying but she didn't have a tear left in her body.

Passing through the events and the emotion of the night and before, she thought about it all. About all the fights she had had, the huge ones as well as the tiny ones, the ones she had fought against enemies and the ones against friends, the ones she had fought alone...and the ones she had fought in a team...How she loved Logan with his fatherly manners, how she respected Ororo and Hank, how she was grateful to the Professor for his patience and his determination, how she had had fun with the former recruits, how she owed Scott for showing her the good parts of life, how she had found family in laughing Kurt, how she had kept her bitchy side while practicing it on Jean, who really was a good friend in the end, how she had fell hard for Remy, how Kitty had always been there for her...

She loved them all, they were part of her. With Remy back, she wouldn't be able to make them feel as important as they truly were to her, she'd be like a dead shell. She needed some time alone, to think, to figure if...if she wanted him back. The pain he had caused was just too much to live again. She wasn't ready for another cut like the last one. Never. Had he thought she would take him back as soon as he showed up? What's more, she didn't want the Institute to relive it. Her, she could bear, others, it was unacceptable. The Institute was more important to her heart.

"It's my family before you Remy...I'm sorry."

She had to leave. Now.

Grabbing a sports bag, she shoved some clothing and some hygienic stuff, not forgetting her Discman, her wallet and the latest book she had brought just two days ago at the mall with Kitty. Thinking of her best friend, she stopped. Did she really want to go? She sighed. This decision wasn't for her...but for everybody else. She didn't look back as she closed her bedroom door, then the front door, then the gate.

***

Okay, this is it...

I took the idea from the movie "Rundown" with The Rock...don't know if you've seen it (it's based on the movie so guess the next chapter!)...thus the title...

I hope the reasons for Rogue to leave makes sense.

REVIEW!...please : )