Chapter 2: vs Media

Rogue pulled up in the garage and parked her motorcycle. It was with great relief that she took off her helmet. The work day was over, and it had been another long day of a long week. Of all the reasons she could've regretted the fight with the Reavers, it never crossed her mind that constant, mixed attention from the media and general public was even on the list. Let alone end up at the top of that list.

There was a good deal of praise, especially from those who had been wronged in some way by the various Reaver cells that were plaguing the country (and starting to creep into other countries). There were the criticisms from those who either had legitimate concerns, or just weren't happy unless they were complaining about something. Then there were the inevitable comments from the dregs of society, who hated mutants, had to make everything sexual, or both.

Her ear had been buzzing all week.

"Hey chère," Gambit said.

Rogue glanced over to see him going through the spare parts at the workbench. "Hey."

"Yay weekend," he said with a knowing smile.

"Yay indeed." Rogue slumped against her motorcycle and closed her eyes. "Today this one wanker came to work to shout obscenities at me. Tom had to call the cops to get him to leave."

Gambit pulled a face. "Some people have no life."

"Yeah." She sighed. "Here's hoping something new and exciting happens over the weekend so that this madness will stop and people will just leave me alone already."

She sighed again and pushed herself off her motorcycle, and set her helmet aside in its place. She started to walk towards the door, only to be intercepted by Gambit. He wrapped his arms around her, and she willingly laid her head on his shoulder and let him hold her.

Rogue had done her best to minimise the amount of information the media got from her. She didn't mind answering questions like "how did it make you feel?" but refused to pass on the names of the friends she'd been with, the nature of her mutation, or why she got the Cure. It was none of their business. Kitty and Jubilee were getting enough harassment as it was without people knowing their names. Especially Kitty, who was being accused of being a thief in some quarters just because she was seen walking through the Reavers' prosthesis in the video.

So far, Kitty and Jubilee's names hadn't been made public.

Unfortunately, the media and Rogue's parents had met during the week. Owen and Priscilla had been more than willing to talk about their former mutant daughter, and how happy they were she took the Cure and got rid of that death touch of hers that put her first boyfriend in a coma for three weeks.

"We live in a nice neighbourhood, lots of families. Naturally, we couldn't let Marie stay home, not when she almost killed her boyfriend," said Owen while Priscilla looked on in the background. "You just can't have weapons lying around the house like that. Now that she's no longer dangerous, we'd love to have her back home again."

Rogue stopped watching the interviews with her family. It had reached the point where the very sight of her father's face made her want to throw things at the TV, and she almost went through with it.

"Will you ever reunite with your parents?" one pushy reporter had asked her.

"Hell no," Rogue said, determinedly looking right at the camera. "I took the Cure for my benefit, not theirs. If they couldn't accept me when I was a mutant, then they don't deserve to have me back."

Rogue had very angrily and reluctantly clarified that her mutation had been parasitic in nature, and that she'd taken the Cure because she couldn't turn it off. However! She had never killed anyone and they had better stop calling it a death touch. She'd cut herself off before making the threats of violence that wanted so badly to spill from her lips, and instead accused them of being melodramatic fearmongerers.

"I'm sure something will happen to take the heat off," Gambit said as he rubbed her back. "Especially with Halloween coming up."

Rogue opened her mouth to reply, and was promptly zapped by the static that always shocked anyone Gambit had prolonged physical contact with. It hurt, but she didn't pull back from the much needed hug. She knew she'd get zapped again if she didn't move away soon, but she didn't care. She was far too emotionally and mentally drained to care.

"Yeah," she said. "It won't be news forever."

He kissed the top of her head.

David Cody Robbins walked out of the locker room with his fellow teammates. There were two other Davids on the team, and another Robbins, so he opted to go by his middle name, Cody, like he had in high school. It was a vast improvement on "David R".

A horde of media was waiting outside. That was of no surprise to Cody. What was a surprise were the first questions he got asked:

"Are you the same David Cody Robbins that Marie D'Ancanto put into a coma two years ago?"

"What was it like being in a coma for three weeks?"

Cody looked at them as his teammates looked at him. He had heard Marie's name in the news lately (somehow it had not surprised him that she'd gotten into a fight with a Reaver and won), but he hadn't expected to be asked questions about her. Especially not after the great game of college football they'd had tonight.

"Um, yeah I am," Cody replied, then grinned, "and it was the most relaxing three weeks of my life."

That was all the encouragement they needed.

"No, I'm not mad at her. Why would I be mad at her? It was an accident, ain't like she did it on purpose," Cody replied, answering the questions that continued to fly his way. "How did I feel? Well, one moment I was having my first kiss and the next I was waking up in hospital, so mostly disappointment and confusion. Yes, I would love to pick up where we left off, and no, I'm not just saying that 'cause we were kissing at the time."

Some of his nearby teammates laughed at that.

"I never got to see her after I woke up. My folks wouldn't let me, and by the time I was in a position where I could've sneaked out of the house, she'd already left. Don't blame her; everyone was angry at her. But again, accident!" Cody nodded knowingly. "She didn't mean it, and if I know Marie, and I do know Marie, once she realised what her mutation was she took every precaution to make sure there wasn't a recurrence.

"You know, technically, we never officially broke up." Cody winked mischievously to the camera. "So, in which case, Marie, sugar, I owe you an apology. I have been dating other women. I know, I know, not being in contact with each other for two, three years is no excuse. You're right, I'm sorry. My bad. Maybe we could get together and talk this out proper sometime?

"Yes, I would absolutely get back together with her. My folks will be pissed when they hear me say that though.

"You know, it really should surprise me that she got taken hostage by a Reaver and ended up kicking his ass. It should, but it doesn't. Marie's always been a bit of a rogue.

"And as much fun as it's been chatting about my first girlfriend, the next question had better be about the game tonight."

x - x - x

Rogue stared at the TV screen in the rec room.

"He's not mad at me." She leapt up off the lounge "He's not mad at me!"

Much to the surprise of her friends, she began dancing around the rec room. She'd been carrying that particular burden for so long she'd gotten used to the weight of it. Now that it was lifted, she never felt so free.

"No, but apparently he thinks you're still dating," Pyro said, his voice thick with criticism.

"Oh please! He was just talking out his ass again. He does that," Rogue said, then whirled around and poked her tongue out at Pyro.

"Would you actually go back out with him again?" Kitty asked, eyeing her friend curiously.

Rogue spun around again, her eyes briefly landing on Gambit before she faced Kitty.

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "Maybe. I just assumed he was mad at me like everyone else was, so…"

Jubilee scooted over to Gambit, whose pink shirt had taken on a glow.

"And now you're free to go crawling back to him," Pyro sneered. "Even though he just admitted to cheating."

Jubilee murmured something in Gambit's ear. Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"What part of talking out his ass don't you understand?" Rogue retorted hotly. "And besides, I dated Bobby, so if he's a cheat then so am I."

Gambit smiled and murmured something back to Jubilee.

"Whatever," Pyro said, shaking his head with his arms firmly crossed. "Just go back to your human boyfriend. It's where you belong anyway."

Jubilee hid her giggle under her hand.

"Ugh it never fails," Kitty cut in before Rogue could respond. "Just when I think you're starting to be reasonable about the whole Rogue taking the Cure thing, you come out with something like that."

The glow faded from Gambit's shirt.

"Well, you know what they say," Rogue said. "You can't reason with unreasonable people." And she turned her back on Pyro. "So, that was the best news I've gotten since… since my powers manifested."

"Even better than getting the Cure?" Kitty asked.

"Yes! It's nice to know that at least one person isn't mad at me." Rogue flopped back down on the lounge, where Jubilee had been sitting before she moved over.

"Hey," Kitty smiled slyly. "He called you a rogue just now… Coincidence?"

Rogue chuckled. "My Aunt Carrie used to call me a rogue. Cody picked up on it and liked it, but he didn't call me that anywhere near as often as Aunt Carrie did."

"Aunt Carrie? She hasn't been on the news, has she?" Kitty asked with a frown, trying to remember the news stories they'd seen of Rogue's parents.

Rogue shook her head. "She and my father do not get along. At all. She thinks he's the exact kind of slimy weasel who would start a cult."

There were some giggles at that.

"He's a travelling salesman and isn't even home nine months of the year. Aunt Carrie says she wouldn't be surprised if he has another wife and child out there. Though I think the fact that he's just appeared on TV with my mama voluntarily proves he doesn't," Rogue went on in amusement. "Unless the other wife knows about Mama, I suppose."

"Wait, are you serious?" Jubilee asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, Aunt Carrie is serious. I've heard her theories about the kind of things he gets up to when he's not home my whole life." Rogue shrugged. "It's all just a big joke to me. Besides, if there was any substance to them, Mama would've left him by now."

"That's not necessarily true. There are plenty of women who still stay with their husband even though they know he's doing the dirty on them," Kitty said warily.

"I concede the point, but those women clearly don't have a sister Carrie to deal with. And if Aunt Carrie ever had any proof of any of her theories, you can bet your bottom dollar she would've gotten Mama to leave him." Rogue shrugged. "But she doesn't, so she steers clear of him, and he of her," Rogue went on with a grin for her friends. "She and I never really got along either, although, in hindsight, I'm wondering if I feel that way because I wasn't exactly a well behaved child."

"The nickname was well deserved then?" Jubilee asked, grinning.

"Very."

Media attention died down. The dregs of society continued to harass, but even they started to find new targets to go after. As they got closer to Halloween, the worst of the attention came from those inclined towards Real Person shipping, who were eager to set up Rogue and Cody on a reunion date.

If, by chance, Rogue was wrong about Tom not being the one to alert the media to her location, then he surely regretted that decision. Otherwise, if he ever found out who did, he'd make sure that they'd regret it. Most of the additional visits and phone calls had been people looking for Rogue. The amount of time wasted by those people did not in any way make up for the little additional business he did receive.

A few days before Halloween found Rogue, Jubilee, Bobby, and Pyro at Warren Worthington's Halloween party. Most of the other attendees were from the business school Warren was attending. Rogue wished that Gambit had come along, but he preferred to minimise his time away from the school while he still didn't have control. Piotr and Kitty were on a date.

"This looks amazing," Jubilee said, looking around with envy at the decorations and food. "Why can't I do this?"

"Budget," Rogue replied.

"Stupid budget."

Rogue chuckled.

"Hey guys," Warren greeted them, dressed up as an angel, complete with halo. "Glad you could make it."

"Your costume's a little on the nose, isn't it?" Pyro asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Maybe," Warren replied with a shrug. "But being restricted to only going as guys who wear coats or cloaks does get rather boring after awhile."

"I think you look awesome," Rogue said. "Have you gotten many comments on how realistic your wings look?"

"Heaps." Warren grinned. "I think a few people have figured out that they're actually real, but if I was worried about being outed as a mutant, I would've gone as Constantine. Besides, mutants are in good favour at the moment, thanks to you two." He smiled at Rogue and Jubilee.

"Here's hoping it lasts," Rogue said direly.

They chatted a little longer, and then Warren moved on to greet other guests. The four X-Men moved further inside the apartment to better enjoy the party.

Rogue was just acquiring some punch for herself when she did a double take. For a moment she thought there was a Reaver at the party, but on her second, proper look, she realised it was just a guy dressed up as one. He was in a wheelchair, and a covering over his lower half made it look like a tank.

Without realising what she was doing, she walked over to him. He looked up at her as she approached.

"Hey, I love your costume," she said.

"Thanks," he replied. "I'd say the same about yours, but I have no idea who you are.'

"Heh, I'm Wednesday Addams." She'd chosen the costume specifically because the black hair wig meant she could hide her white streak while at the party.

"Ah. I'm only passingly familiar with the Addams Family," he said.

Rogue shrugged. "There's so much out there, no one can be familiar with everything."

"All too true." He held out his hand. "Lionel."

She shook his hand. "Rogue. Pleasure to meet you."

A few weeks ago, she would've introduced herself as 'Marie' since that was the name she had intended to use now that she was no longer a mutant. But, aside from not wanting to be recognised, she found that being called Marie, particularly Marie D'Ancanto, was putting a bad taste in her mouth. All she could think about was her father declaring to the world that she was welcome back home now that she no longer had her death touch, like that was somehow a loving and generous gesture.

"Rogue, huh?" Lionel asked. "You're one of Warren's mutant friends then?"

"Yeah." It was easier to agree and hope he didn't ask about her mutant powers.

"Cool. So," and his voice took on a gleeful tone, "what did you think of the Mutants vs Reavers fight?"

Rogue stifled a groan. "I think it was vastly overrated."

"Really?" Lionel sounded surprised. "How so?"

"Well for one thing, it's hardly the first time the Reavers have gotten beaten in a fight," Rogue replied after a sip of her punch.

"True, but it is the first time that a group of civilians have done it without getting hurt and/or killed in the process," Lionel replied. "Not to mention the police pretty much did nothing until the mutants had finished."

"I think the police would've done more if they weren't concerned about the welfare of the hostage. Her friends didn't even do anything until after she'd taken the gun out of the equation." Rogue found it both weird and amusing to talk about herself in the third person.

"That we saw."

"That line of thinking could also apply to the police."

"Touche." Lionel grinned at her. "Actually, what I find the most interesting is not so much the fight as it was the location."

"Oh?"

"Of all the places in the complex they could have robbed, they chose a place that could only be reached by a flight of stairs," he said. "They purposely brought in a lift just so they could get their whole team in there. Why, I ask you? There would've been easier targets, so why did they deliberately chose a place that didn't have proper disability access?"

Rogue nodded slowly. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing that myself. A…friend of mine doesn't think that going after the gym made any sense at all. The most expensive stuff they have there is probably the big heavy equipment that would not be quick and easy to move. The gym store might have some stuff worth snatching, but all the membership fees are going to be paid electronically."

"Well, that's probably why they ripped open the lockers," Lionel said. "They wanted everyone's personal stuff, which was all nicely set aside in one spot for them. Including stuff they could commit identity fraud with."

"Yeah, that's what my friend thinks too. But that still doesn't explain why they went after that particular gym, when there would've been easier ones to get the whole team into. Or, why, for that matter, the tanktaur wasn't the getaway driver."

"Tanktaur?"

"Oh, yeah, that's what my friends and I have started calling them: like a centaur, only the bottom half is a tank instead of a horse." Rogue looked a little embarrassed.

Lionel chuckled. "Tanktaur. I like it." He pointed at her. "I agree with your friend's line of thought. I think there's a lot more to this than just what's on the surface. Did you hear that when they tried to take the wheel clamps off the lift, that these little micro bombs went off?"

"I did. Makes me wonder why they went to so much trouble."

"Same." He hesitated for a moment, then started to say "I have—" only to be cut off by Warren's arrival.

"Hey you guys," Warren greeted them. "You two aren't fighting are you?"

"Why would we be fighting?" Lionel asked, his forehead furrowed in confusion.

"Well, you're the biggest Reaver fanboy I know," Warren said, and pointed to Rogue, "and Marie beats up Reavers…"

Rogue cleared her throat uncomfortably as Lionel looked sharply at her. "You're Marie?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Warren said, looking between them apologetically. "Did I just out you?"

"Um, yeah, kinda," Rogue replied awkwardly. "I was hoping to avoid attracting any more attention."

Lionel chuckled. "And we ended up talking about it anyway."

"Well, I was the one who said 'hi' to you, so one could argue I brought it on myself." Rogue shrugged.

"Ha! Well, Warren's right," Lionel gave Warren a wink, "I am the biggest Reaver fanboy around. Especially those tanktaurs."

"Oh?" Rogue asked.

"I have been salivating over those tank treads. I've seen videos; those things can get over 1.5inch steps." Lionel sighed wistfully.

"Ah, yes," Rogue nodded. She remembered that Professor Xavier had problems with things like that. Not at the school, of course, but on excursions and other trips outside the grounds.

"I swear, if it wasn't for the fact that Reavers have a well-deserved criminal reputation, I would absolutely get me one of those." He sighed again. "In the meantime I just have to hope that someone puts together a variant without the negative connotations."

As they fell into heavy discussion, Rogue vaguely noticed Warren watching them go back and forth like he was watching the tennis, and eventually walked off.

October 31st arrived, and thanks to Gambit's shenanigans, Halloween-themed food was served all day. He had swapped out the regular egg rings with skull shaped ones, and had a bunch of pre-made cookies available.

Jubilee had organised the decorating of the mansion, and was thrilled with the results. She was going for casual, friendly Halloween, except for a couple of specific rooms where she deliberately went for "I want to make you wet your pants" creepy with varying results.

Gambit steered clear of Jubilee's scarier rooms, in case something surprised him and he blew something up.

"Aw, but you don't have incidents as often as you used to," Jubilee said with a pout.

"And yet blowing something up due to surprise is still a thing," Gambit replied, but he seemed more amused than annoyed.

"I think it's just an excuse." Bobby nodded. "I think he's too scared."

"Oh? I tell you what, Bobby," Gambit drawled. "I'll go in, if you go in right in front of me."

Bobby paused. He glanced over at Jubilee who was nodding eagerly, her face bright with mischief.

"I'll pass," Bobby said finally.

Gambit nodded. "That's what I thought."

The following Friday afternoon, Rogue and Gambit sat on the topmost parapet of the mansion, looking out on the grounds. The sun was quite hot, and the wind had a chill; half their bodies were getting baked and the other half frozen.

"I think I have a date," Rogue said.

Gambit was silent for a moment, then said: "You think you do?"

"Yeah. I was talking to Lionel—"

"That guy you met at Warren's party?"

"Yep. Anyway, we decided to get together for coffee, right? It was going to be a lunch thing, but we didn't have a mutually available lunch any time soon, so we decided to go for dinner instead." Rogue frowned. "I'm not sure if this is a date or if we're going as friends."

"Huh. Well, maybe you should ask him." Gambit grinned at her. "May as well clear it up the easy way."

Rogue laughed lightly. "Yeah, I guess so."

Silence fell for a few minutes.

"Do you want it to be a date?" Gambit asked.

"Oh, um, I don't know." Rogue frowned. "I've never dated someone I've only just met before. I was friends with Cody and Bobby first. Okay, so I wasn't friends with Bobby for very long before we started dating, but that's not the point."

"Ah, see, I was the opposite," Gambit replied with a hint of melancholy in his voice. "I would date someone and we'd eventually become friends or break up. Or not become friends and break up. Okay, the breaking up part was inevitable, it was just a matter of whether it was a friendly one or not."

Rogue smiled, and was about to reply, when Gambit continued.

"What about Cody?"

"What about him?"

"Well, I thought you were interested in getting back together with him. Isn't dating Lionel going to mess that up?"

Rogue sighed, then shook her head. "Maybe, I don't know. Right now I don't even know how to get back in contact with him without getting a third party and possibly the media involved. Let alone find out if he was serious about us dating again."

"Aw chère, who wouldn't be serious about dating you?"

A flicker of magenta caught Rogue's eye.

"You haven't read the hate mail I've been getting," she replied, opting not to comment on Gambit's pants being charged up.

"I really need to carry out my threat to track those people down."

Rogue snickered and Gambit grinned at her.

"You laugh now, but if those guys have enough time on their hands for writing hate mail, then they clearly don't have enough to do," he said wickedly. "I can fix that."

"I'm sure you can," she said, and hesitated before continuing. She wanted to talk about Lionel some more, but she should've known better than to discuss dating with Gambit. "But really, surely you have better things to do with your time than to waste it on people who have no lives?"

Gambit shrugged. "I'm going to need someone to rob when I get control back, so why not target people who send hate mail? I'll get to steal and defend your honour at the same time. It's win-win!"

Rogue laughed.

"And I know what you're going to say," Gambit went on before Rogue could say anything, "you can defend your own honour. I know you can. You shouldn't have to."

Rogue smiled and leaned into him. "But punching people is so much fun!"

"You punch too many people, you're going to break your pretty hands."

"That's okay. Broken bones heal back stronger."

"I…" he shook his head, "can't argue with that."

"I know." She shuddered and began to shift position. "Okay, it's getting cold out here."

"Yeah."

"I think we're going to have to find somewhere else to sit and chat soon."

"This is the problem with winter," Gambit said as he too, started to get up, "all the good, warm and cosy hideaways are taken."

They climbed down from the parapet and Rogue was pleased to see that Gambit had been able to remove the charge from his pants. She flashed him a quick grin and climbed down the ladder. She opened up the door and stepped onto the stairwell.

"You know," Gambit said as he joined her. "We could just meet here."

"On the stairs?"

"Yep."

"Where there's no view?"

"Yep."

"And an echo chamber?"

"Okay, point taken."

Rogue returned to her room later that night with the intention of getting ready for bed and reading for an hour before going to sleep. As she approached her room, she could hear the hum of a vacuum cleaner, and frowned as she opened up the door.

Gambit was kneeling on the floor with the vacuum and a separate garbage bag, cleaning up a pile of broken dryboard, dust, and shredded fabric. Above his head was a huge hole in the wall that their bedrooms shared. Two of the three curtains that hung between the wall and the rest of Rogue's room were in tatters. Gambit glanced up as she entered. He shut off the vacuum cleaner.

"Oh, hey sorry," he said. "I wanted to have this all cleaned up before you got back."

Rogue shook her head, even as she took in the mess. The curtains had done their job, keeping the mess confined, even if it had cost them in the process.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" she persisted. He hadn't blown a hole that big in the wall before.

"I'm fine!"

A charge slipped out of his hand and into the vacuum cleaner. He swore loudly.

"Okay, I'm not fine," he practically shouted. "Happy?"

Rogue started to open her mouth.

"You're dating other men and I am miserable. And envious. And…" he shook his head, "and a whole host of other things." He sighed. "And you know, you should date, and get on with your life, and not wait around for me to get my power under control." He looked despondently at the charged up vacuum. "I am nowhere near ready to start dating again, no matter how much I wish otherwise."

Rogue sat down beside him, but said nothing until the magenta light around the vacuum had disappeared for a good minute.

"I would date you right now," she said softly. "I don't need to wait for you to have control."

He looked at her with sheer desperation in his eyes, then grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her with everything he had. Rogue kissed him back eagerly as she moved onto his lap.

A tickling static build up against her skin, and Rogue opened her eyes just as Gambit jerked his lips back from hers. Magenta light swirled around their clothing, both shirts and pants. Gambit closed his eyes and sighed heavily as he pressed his forehead into her shoulder.

"And this is why I can't date." His voice was resigned.

There were so many things Rogue wanted to reply with. She wanted to argue that she was okay with taking the risk. She wanted to declare her willingness to wait, that it wouldn't be fair on anyone she dated that her heart already belonged to him.

"So, you planning Thanksgiving dinner yet?" she said instead.

"Oh, yeah, I hadn't even finished cleaning up after Halloween. Already ordered the turkeys. We need a lot of them for the school."

Rogue listened as Gambit verbalised his Thanksgiving plans. Cooking was always an effective way to enable him to regain control over his powers. Soon he was able to remove the charges, and Rogue reluctantly left his lap.

"I'll just finish cleaning," he said.

There was so much she wanted to say to him, but all she said was: "Okay."