Ch. 3

"Okay, if I leave now I should get to Irene's by tomorrow night. What say ya'll?" Rogue said as she scurried around her room, packing what she would need to take with her in a small duffel bag.

"Irene's? I thought you were going to get Gambit and bring him back here?" Kitty asked, confused.

"I am, but before Irene left she said she would see me when I got there, so she obviously has something she wants to tell me. I just don't see why she can't pick up the phone." Rogue said, a bit annoyed at Irene.

"Okay, how are you going to get there?" Kitty asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm going to take my car." Rogue said zipping up her bag.

"And how are you going to find him?" Jean asked, looking through Rogue's CD collection.

"Dunno, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." Rogue said with a shrug after giving it a minute of thought.

"He lives at 323 Bourbon Street, and you're welcome." Jean said moving to Rogue's bookshelf.

"Thank you, but how did you get his address? Did you go inside his head to get it? That's a very dangerous place. I know." Rogue said, slightly concerned.

"No, we sat down at a nice little diner and had tea and crumpets together and discussed knitting techniques." Jean said sarcastically. At the 'Are you serious?' looks she received from Kitty, Rogue, and Kurt she added, "Of course I went inside his head, how else do you think I found out?"

"What are you going to say to get him to come to our side?" Kitty asked, ignoring Jeans sarcasm.

"No idea. I'll probably just knock him out, tie him up, and stuff him in the trunk." Rogue said with another shrug.

"I'm coming with you." Kitty said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Kit, no, you're not." Rogue said immediately.

"Rogue, yes, I am. Lance is coming, too." Kitty said in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

"Why would you want to come? It's August, and I'm going to Louisiana. It's a disgusting, filthy wasteland on a good day. Add to that there are dirty, homeless drunks who are gonna grope you in places you never thought you could get groped before. Not to mention, you'll be sweating like a seventeenth century prostitute on a busy Saturday night. How much fun does that sound like?" Rogue said trying to dissuade her friend from tagging along. Kitty pondered what Rogue said for a minute before responding.

"Well, I can't really help the sweating like a pig part, other than wear small clothes, but as for the filthy drunks part, that's what we'll have Lance for." Kitty said trying to convince Rogue to let her go with her.

"The answer is still 'no', Kitty." Rogue said heading for the door.

"Actually, Rogue, I'm sure everyone would feel a little better about you running off to chase your destiny and create your own future if you had someone who is somewhat responsible. Logan might not like the idea of Lance going but at least Lance won't let anyone get fresh with you two young ladies." Jean said matter-of-factly.

"Wow, Jean, you're just rolling in answers today, aren't you?" Kitty asked sentimentally.

"I know, I don't know what's up with that, but I'm pretty awesome." Jean said smugly.

"I agree with them." Kurt piped in.

"Excuse me?" Rogue asked bluntly.

"With Kitty and Lance with you, they can make sure that sneaky Cajun keeps his hands to himself." Kurt said with a glare.

"Good point, but I'm still going by myself." Rogue said stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest.

15 minutes later…

"Ya' got everything, Kit?" Rogue asked as the girls threw their bags into the trunk of Rogue's car.

"For the last time, yes, I have everything." Kitty said for what felt like the umpteenth time. "Lance will be waiting for us outside the brotherhood house." she told Rogue as she closed the trunk.

"Have fun and stay safe you two." Jean said waving from the front stoop.

"Schwester, please be careful. If anything goes wrong or you need to be picked up, just call and I'll be there as fast as I can." Kurt said giving both girls a hug before they got in the car.

"Kurt, we're mutants, what could happen?" Kitty asked.

"Yes, you're mutants, not invincible. Please, try to remember that. Keep me posted. Don't get killed. Come home safe, and all that goodbye stuff." Jean said, a little worried that they would do more harm than good.

"Okay!" Kitty said with a big smile and a wave before she turned to Rogue and whispered, "Let's get out of here before we get caught."

With a nod, Rogue sped off toward the Brotherhood Boarding house. Just as Kitty said, Lance was waiting outside with a duffle bag. Lance put his bag in the trunk and got in the back seat.

"How 'bout some tunes?" Lance asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Sure. Kit, pop in a disc." Rogue said gesturing to a CD case at Kitty's feet.

"Sure," Kitty said obligingly. "Uh, Rogue, this is all country." Kitty said flipping through Rogue's music selection.

"Uh, yeah, Kit, I'm from the south, what do you expect? N*SYNC?" Rogue asked, slightly offended.

(A/N: I'm totally not ripping on N*SYNC, but they're the best I could think that Kitty would listen to.)

"No, I just thought you would have more of a variety going on here." Kitty said bluntly.

"Hey, the voices in my head may dictate every other aspect of my life, but I refuse to let them control my music. Not gonna happen, sister." Rogue said as she grabbed a CD from Kitty and out it in the CD player. "Besides, driver picks the tunes, and passengers shut their pie holes." She said as Jason Aldean blasted from the speakers before Rogue turned it down to a more reasonable volume.(A/N: If you recognize that line, give a holler.)

That night…

The three of them made it to Mississippi from New York in just less than 18 hours. (A/N: Possible, done it before.) The trip ended up not being as bad as Rogue had thought it would be. That is, until she got close to Irene's house, when Rogue started to feel nauseous.

OK, after this I don't have anything written, so it might take awhile for the next one. Thanks for reading.

fnk