Chapter 2: Property lost

The tall woman in front of them smiled cleverly and when she got a glimpse of the seated man her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"You, stand up."

At the threatening order Remy was on his feet. Hell, who was he to disobey such a belle? He might as well play after her own game.

"Remy LeBeau, at y' services."

At his exaggerated bow she kept to herself the urge to roll her eyes. What surprised Remy though, were the sudden firm steps she took towards him, stopping intimidatingly close to his face. With arms folded in front of her chest her eyes roamed along his complexion. He was finding the situation bizarre, because when women were evaluating him so close it was usually accompanied by a glint of desire followed by some unorthodox events – but she was looking at him as if he was an arithmetic value.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Hmmm.."

And with that little sound she spun around.

"Evelyn."

At her high voice the door opened in seconds to show the blond woman.

"Please link my mobile connection to the office line."

The woman nodded and only when Rogue approached the desk Logan paid attention to the cell phone in her lefty gloved hand. As she put the phone of the hold device his eyes narrowed.

When the small woman was about to exit Rogue underpinned her hands on the desk and looked at her.

"Oh, and this office is empty." She smiled sharply at the woman. "Needless to say, nothing out of the schedule happened this morning."

As a reaction she nodded once more with an understandable smile on her lips. "I will make sure the message passes to the lower levels."

"Thank you."

While the women exchanged their words Remy looked at the other man with the corner of his eyes.

"Sooo…y' happen t' know de pair o' legs ?"

At Logan possessive growl he got his answer.

As the door closed Rogue pushed the red button of the phone line and threw them a glance between her mascaraed eyelashes.

"Boys, say hello to mommy Storm as she is about to scold you."

With that the voice of the African beauty was heard through the speaker.

"Marie, I am sorry for the inconvenient they caused. Maybe it would have been wiser for me to come there instead. "

Said woman huffed a laugh.

"Don't worry; I've faced worse in this place. Now; with the problem at hand …" and saying that she looked up to stare at the tall man, knowing that whatever the discussion will be, it will include him.

"For now I have just two thought to share. He looks promising but that won't make me overlook the fact that he had been caught by the S.T.R.I.K.E. agents way too easily." She stopped. "Though, considering your confidence I will grant him a second chance."

Remy's face furrowed and she threw him a sarcastic smile.

At the end of the line Ororo laughed slightly. "And your other thought?"

Her body lost a part of the formal tension and she made a funny grimace.

"My other thought is professional unrelated. I just felt like voicing my concern over the fact that Logan's messmates seem to get more and more questionable with the pass of time. I guess even he must feel really lonely at times."

That line alone was the reason of many reactions. The weather witch let out a refreshing laughter, with Remy faking disappointment and Logan grinning at the insult.

"Chére…y' wounded dis man."

"Don't worry Remy. A cold shower is good for your ego from time to time."

Rogue smiled.

"I guess this is where the fun ends. Ah'll provide them with all the information they need then I'll make sure to send them to the headquarters. They will probably be on a plane back to New York by this evening."

"Thank you Marie. We are in great debt for what you are doing."

"I already told yah that you have nothing to thank me for. We are on the same side. I will contact you later."

"Very well. Logan, Remy."

With that the conversation ended.

Rogue looked up and for the first time into Logan's eyes.

She straightened and circled the desk to them.

The man smirked and stepped forward. For a moment he simply stared at her, her high heels sending her to his eyelevel.

He chuckled.

"You've grown kid."

She closed here eyes and opened them slowly, gently nodding.

"Among other things I did while you were away."

If it weren't for her smile he would have thought her words were more than a simple greeting.

Logan grinned and opened his arms to hug her. With his arms around her back he came to realise even more what had became clear from the first scent he had caught of her in the corridor. It was hard to call her 'kid' and even patting her on the head would be hard now – and not just because of the height; there was something else. And that something was even more visible in the way she hadn't immediately react to the embrace, the way her hands gauchely patted his large back, cautiously. He narrowed his eyes and put some distance between them, looking at her. Her face was smiling but it was a troubled smile.

"Well I guess it's a good thing to see you again – it dismisses the fear that your body might be rotting unknowingly in some corner of this world."

Her joke would have passed unnoticed if it weren't for Remy's smirk but Logan's eyes fell towards her gloved hands. She followed his gaze.

He nodded towards them.

"Haven't you taken the cure?"

Unconsciously she brought both of them in front of her and her lips formed a thin line. She stared at the leather gloves and considered how she had no time to discard them when she first reached the office because of the call announcing a certain thief's arrival. In the end it wasn't like she would lie to him, just not giving him all the details.
Her green eyes looked up to catch his.

"No."

He frowned in confusion.

"Why did you lie back then?"

She hid her tension behind a double edged grin.

"You can't blame a woman for her curiosity. I was just interested in what kind of reactions I would receive." She lowered her head but did not lose his gaze. "Not very warm-hearted I came to realise. But of course you couldn't know that because by the time I told the truth you were already gone."

This was the first time her sharp remark sounded more like a hand slapped over his face and he started to doubt that the coldness he was receiving was just part of his imagination. But she elegantly took a step back and leaned backwards, supporting her body on the edge of the desk, arms over her chest, her legs more appealing than ever in that black skirt. Which brought him back to one of his first problems; and Gumbo's previous comments weren't helping.

"Then what's with the legs?"

Maybe that hadn't come out just right, giving the reactions. The woman looked at him with two perfectly round eyes in a state of shock at the sudden question and confusion. She looked down puzzled.

"What is wrong with my legs?"

"Oui m'sieur Wolfy. Dat is one fine pair o' legs. I see nothin' wrong in dem."

Logan threw him an annoyed glare whilst Rogue bothered just to arch an eyebrow his way.

"Shut it Cajun. What I meant was to ask if you aren't scared of exposing too much skin." At least that's what he though he wanted to ask.

At that it was Remy's turn to look at him with a raised eyebrow and Rogue to look at him amused.

"It's not like people walk around this building with a death wish of touching my legs." Logan didn't need to look at Gambit to feel the need to prove her wrong. "And they're called stockings. Not that a man like you would care about such things, but if you are interested they are actually garter belt stockings."

He looked in disbelief at her sly content smile considering how that piece of information had the wrong impact in more than one way. For this confident Rogue he was definitely not prepared and had he knew that by coming here he would have to deal with this he wouldn't have agreed to Gambit's presence no matter the conditions.

"Clever tongue you got there kid."

She was about to comment when he cut her off, a little to harsh but too late to take it back.

"Don't tell me… you got that one while I was missing too?"

She stopped and looked into his eyes with an expression that he couldn't understand. Then, once again she smiled politely. He was beginning to hate that smile.

"Either way, we should cover much more serious business." She looked from a man to another. "And I would appreciate if both of you would take a seat. It is kind of intimidating with your presences towering over me."

"But chére I had no time fo' proper introduction."

"Skip it swamp rat. I have everything I need to know about you in the files."

"Uuuu…. Swamp rat? Remy is once again hurt 'bout y' words. But t' make us even can dis swamp rat ask y' somethin'?"

She tilted her head to one side amused and confident. "If that will keep you from interrupting me any further…"

The corner of his mouth went up in a shady manner.

"Who is the ungrateful person dat got y'r beautiful southern accent spoiled?"

She tensed. "I'm sorry?"

"See.. for y'r accent to be so mixed up y' must have spend more dan one year in dis gloomy country. And a hot blooded femme such as y'self wouldn't stay so far from home for such a long time unless de reason would be an homme."

Her eyes hardened and for an instant her confidence vanished. – enough for Remy to sing victory in his head and Logan to feel it.

"I was sayin' dat because Remy finds it a pity."

She continued to glare at him.

"Well, if you had no problem in recognizing my origins Ah guess there is nothing to worry about. And with regard to your preconceptions I am terrible sorry but the truth is that Ah don't give a damn, sugah."

She ended her speech with the same self confidence as before while Logan knew what being proud of someone meant as he strolled towards the sofa.

"I believe that Ororo and Mr Hank have already informed you about the situation."

"Hey, listen kid – are you working for S.T.R.I.K.E.?"

"Sort of." She sighed. "I am just taking someone's place while they are away. The point of all this is to establish a permanent cooperation between S.T.R.I.K.E and X-men. As you may see they are not a pro-mutant organization but we work for the same purpose. That is why they are willing to help when they consider it's a right thing to do and in exchange they want our help to keep things under control where they can't bluntly offer support."

"So why are we working with them?"

She looked straight at him. "Because, if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have had any idea that the Professor is still out there in this word."

"Storm told me that we have nothing sure. Just because those guys accidentally stumbled across One-Eye it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll find Charles as well. What makes you believe that he is still alive?"

The auburn haired woman stared into his eyes and he wondered if she had ever looked at him with such powerful eyes since the moment their roads met.

"For the same reason you believe Jean is alive…. I suppose." For the first time he felt a scent of coldness in her voice also. "I believe you hit the road back to the Institute as soon as they told you that Jean might be alive."

Her statement was soon followed by an awkward silence.

"But then again I have no idea what it is with men and their instinct of becoming sudden heroes when there is a woman in the game."

Remy smirked.

"Dere is always the pleasure o' getting' de girl in de end."

Rogue looked at the man and couldn't suppress her own smirk.

"You must know better."

Without losing them out of sight she stretched one of her arms on the desk and picked a carton folder.

"This is for you Logan. It contains communication codes, data over people and locations you should know about, numbers and coordinates. Since you are here it has been made clear that you are the one in charge with the cooperation agreement and also the only one from outside in possession of confidential information. As for your Cajun friend they want him as the main outside agent in regard to mutant problems. Meaning he will probably have to come visiting this place more than once and work on field - and the fact that once agreed with this his behavior will become your direct responsibly."

She stopped and arched an eyebrow. "Before handling you these files I have to have your answer. Are you in or out?"

"Ma chére, if y'll attend me each time I visit I am more than glad t' be at deir services."

"Stop acting as if you hadn't got laid in the last 12 hours, will ya bub?" For some reason all this was starting to annoy him more than he would usually care. He roughly nodded at the woman with an inexplicable desire to grip her by the shoulders and shake that entire attitude out of her. That damn professional, elegant….womanly attitude was not for Rogue; not his kid.

Pushing herself up she took some steps towards Logan.

"Very well." She stopped right in front of him, looking down. "You'd better make sure that no one else besides you sees this." He had to look up to catch her eyes and he didn't like the situation one bit. She had never been bossy with him; she had never fight to have the upper hand, always putting her confidence and hope in him. His beastly instincts were shouting to jump up on his feet and grave holes into her eyes but all he found himself doing was taking the damn folder from her hand.

She stepped back.

"Good. Now I should guide you to the exit and to someone who will bring you to the S.T.R.I.K.E. headquarters."

"That was all?" When he got on his feet she turned to look at him.

"I did my job of bringing you in contact with the right people; and now they are waiting for you."

She went for the door.

"Oh. And on our way out don't do anything strange or out of hand." Her eyes lingered a little longer over the tall man. "Don't hold anyone's' glance and if something happens let me do the talk."

Logan stepped further to grab her by the arm but once the door was opened she stepped outside.

While passing by him in his way outside the office Remy threw an amused glance at his friend.

"If y' ask me y're not on dat woman's list o' 10 favourite people." With that he strolled out. "But hey, maybe y' don't need de opinion o' an empath."

And he was right. He didn't need an empath to realise that this reunion had gone nothing like he had been expecting.

When they were all about to step in the corridor the blond woman got up from her desk.

"Miss…"

"Yes Evelyn?"

"You might want to know that the base is sending someone for tonight's conference. They didn't look very happy at the damage resulted in Serbia's operation."

"Hmm…thank you for the tip. Announce my presence at the conference to fill the place of Dr. Morganton. I expect them to be thrilled by it."

She rolled her eyes and smiled slyly as she continued to lead the two men.

The woman shared with her the same smile.

"On it." Then she let out a sarcastic low continuation. "I wish them luck in this case."

"So when are you coming back?"

She knew what the man meant.

"Back where?"

"The X-men."

"I am not." Before he had the time to answer of even react to that she continued. "Logan, I left the X-men and I don't intend to go back unless they absolutely need me there. If not, I am content with my current life. I'd say I am more than content but that wouldn't do any good."

Remy chuckled at her words. She was incensing him on purpose and taking pleasure in it. He knew all that from the explosion of feelings he was getting from her. Not to mention that she is the first person he had seen able to lie to Logan with such easiness. He had to give her credits for keeping her true emotions away from the man's sharp instincts. Remy was still trying to understand what kind of relation they had because, in the woman's opinion they had – and there was no more.

"Not to mention that I have been of more help to the X-men working from outside the team."

Logan wanted to speak but yet again he was interrupted when the doors of the elevator opened to reveal a large man, in his mid fifties,the same professional costume as all the people in this building, in tail with two younger men.

The old man's eyes widened and an enormous grin appeared on his face as he spotted Rogue.

"Ha ha ha! Marie!"

He brought his arms up at exiting the elevator and was about to get dangerously close to the woman for a hug and kiss on her cheeks. Her hands reached out and she put them on his upper arms gently gripping them, both stopping him for getting any closer and offering the awaited embrace. The man found himself in the situation of doing the same, his hands resting on her shoulders.

"Mr. Lewis" She smiled with compliance. "Ah haven't seen you in weeks. How is you heart condition?"

"Bah, that is not something to keep this old wreck away from his work. Oh, but those are not thinks for such beautiful eyes to be concerned over. What are you doing here? Don't tell me that Morganton called you to keep his place again?"

"Ah'd like to regard it as a 'calling in for a favour' kind of situation."

"Heh, I was wondering why all the people from his department seemed so serious and tense since I came."

She chuckled whilst he threw a glance over her shoulder at the two men already inside the elevator.

"Well, you look busy; I will not retain you any longer."

He bowed politely and she stepped backwards in the elevator, her hand clapped together.

"It was nice to see you and send all my best wishes to Mr. Worthington."

If she could have screamed out loud at that moment she would most definitely have said fuck.

But she looked at him with her large smile still on her face.

"Ah most definitely will."

The doors closed. Rogue closed her eyes; she let her hands by her side and her smile fell, offering out an annoyed sigh. She glared at the button tablet as if she wanted it in pieces, then pushed the last floor command.

Logan arched an eyebrow.

"Worthington? As in Warren Worthington III?"

Rogue looked in the mirror wall to her right to watch the two men. She threw Logan a puzzled look at his sudden but obvious explosion of possessiveness and wanted to bark out at him a 'what do you care?' but of course, she didn't.

Instead she turned and underpinned her right shoulder on the door looking at him comically.

"If you wouldn't have disappeared from the world of the living for the past years you would have known that Worthington II is long dead and consequently would have realised how pointless your question is."

"So birdie boy is in London as well?"

She sighed and pushed herself up waiting for the doors to open.

"Yes, he is in London and Ah happen to see him almost on daily basis. If it weren't for his material support and implication S.T.R.I.K.E would have never been rehabilitated, and consequently they wouldn't have been so dedicated in helping our cause." She paused but still couldn't stop the words to follow. "So when we find Jean if yah feel like thanking someone you'd better kiss his feet."

He frowned. This was already too much shit he had let her throw his way without a proper explanation.

"Would you mind telling me what is with the cold attitude? Because I am under the impression that each time you open your mouth it's just to throw more accusations my way."

"That happens to be half true."

The elevator stopped.

"What?"
"I am not insulting you if that's what you believe; Ah am not even blaming you of anything – that is also just your imagination; plus, for not doing that I made some rehearsal on my way to the office, and I managed to hold mah tongue just fine." She looked past her shoulder at him.

"But more than a hug and a full heartedly relief that you are ok you shouldn't expect. At times, Logan, some of us get tired of simply be left behind and watch their lives passing bah while they wait like easily disposable fools. Maybe yah have enough time to come and go as you please but mah lifetime is too short to spend it waiting for you to come and ask me 'how you've been kid'." She looked ahead of her.

"And to tell you the truth, I am finally happy with what live gave me."

Then and there he wanted to stop the doors from opening and block her in until she'll spill out everything but the next second she slipped right outside leaving them no other option than to follow.

Her angry high heels were echoing towards the exit. Logan was about to grab her arm and stop her when she whispered while continuing her walk.

"You'd better not do anything stupid. These walls are webbed with cameras and devices and before you'll have the time to watch me in the eyes more than a dozen of guns will be pointing at your head. And from those I don't have the means to get both of you out."

His eyes narrowed and his throat let out a silent growl.

She pushed the double doors open and walked straight towards a black car parked outside, the driver waiting by its side.

Rogue approached his smilingly and shook his hand.

"Jeremy I'll leave them in your hands. You know where to bring them and at what hour to pick them up. Would you also be that kind to drive them to the airport after? You'd be doing me a great favour."

"Of course, Madam."

After that she turned to her left to greet the men goodbye.

She looked up into Logan's eyes and it pained her to see the anger he was holding but she had long promised to herself to keep the distance and not get involved with that man anymore. For her mainly, but also for the life she was having now.

"Logan. I am really happy to have seen you again." And for the first time since she had spoken to him she meant those words. She wanted to say more but… Rogue looked down and then turned to the other man, staring into his handsome features.

"Well… it has been a pleasure meeting you, LeBeau but I'd rather see more of your professional side next time."

The man grinned and took her gloved hand in his, laying a kiss at the base of her fingers and glancing up into her eyes.

"De pleasure was all mine, chére."

She smirked amused at his old fashioned actions and rolled her eyes as she took her hand from him.

"Charming, Cajun."

Before other words could be exchanged through the doors stepped out the blond secretary with a phone in her hands. She looked troubled.

"Miss D'Ancanto! Director Ebersbacher is on line one. He wishes to speak with you immediately with regards of today's disturbance at the corporation."

Her rich green eyes turned for a second to the said 'disturbance' then shaking her head she stepped away.

"Sorry boys – duty's call. Have a nice trip."

She waved at them and grabbed the phone from the woman's hands, her hips swinging elegantly and her legs carrying her back inside the building, away from the soft pouring rain.

"Director Ebersbacher… There is nothing to worry about, just some minor program errors, nothing that I couldn't deal with. Of course… It has always been a pleasure to hear how concerned you are over the well development of the system."

Logan turned to the car, threw his body inside and slammed the door listening to her voice until his ears couldn't catch it any longer. He didn't like this new Rogue; not at all; and worst of all, he didn't like the effect she had over him.