ENTER THE CAJUN (part 4)
Remy woke up early the next morning, when the fishing troupe tried to sneak by him.
"Sorry, man," Scott said. "Want to come fishing with us?"
Remy groggily lifted his head and looked at the small group. If Rogue had been with them, he might have gone, but she was still in bed. Besides, he had a headache that ran all the way down to his kneecaps, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to get up any time soon. He thought he might even stay where he was the rest of the day. He lay back down and closed his eyes again.
It seemed like only seconds later that he heard, "C'mon, sugar, we're goin' down to the lake before it gets too hot. I'll race you out to the raft . . ."
Remy rolled over and looked her in the eye. "Can I take a rain check on that?"
"Still sleepy?" She knelt down beside him and ruffled his hair with one gloved hand. "You've been sleeping since yesterday afternoon! Ya can't be that tired!"
"Wanna bet?" He'd never felt this bad before—well, okay, once when he snuck some of his daddy's beer at a party. And the time he'd had a headache that he'd sworn could kill an elephant. Oh, yeah, and that other time he was flat on his back for three days with the flu. Other than those instances, he'd never been in this much agony.
Rogue noticed Remy seemed paler than usual, and heard him snuffling. "Can I help ya, sugar? You need anything?"
"Some aspirin, maybe an ice pack . . ." Remy managed to say before his voice gave out on him.
Rogue went to the medicine chest to see if she could find anything to help Remy. There was a small white bottle on the bottom shelf. Squinting at the label, she saw the words "pain reliever" and scooped it up. But would it be good enough?
"Oh, man," she sighed. "Ah hope this works."
She filled a glass with water from the kitchen sink and brought it over to Remy. "Here, sugar, you just take this and relax. Let me know if ya need anything else."
Remy opened his eyes, then lifted his head slightly to be able to swallow. The lack of resistance worried Rogue. He must be really sick . . . She wondered if any of the adults were up yet.
Then she heard Jean calling from the porch. "You coming, Rogue?"
"Uh . . . ya might want to get the Professor. I think Remy's really sick—"
"What?"
"He's got a real bad headache. Can't move at all."
"That doesn't sound good," Jean said, and went to contact Professor Xavier.
In his room, Xavier was awake and "listening" to Jean's conversation. "Let me take a look at Remy myself," he said. A few minutes later, he wheeled himself into the living room to see what he could do for the boy.
He was in bad shape, all right, from the look of him. He reminded Xavier of a photo he'd once seen of a germ warfare test victim, after exposure to a particularly lethal contaminant. The victim had died hours later.
"Have you taken anything yet?" Xavier asked the boy.
"Yeah. Rogue gave me some pills. Haven't kicked in yet . . ." Remy shifted his position on the uncomfortable leather couch, and then pulled the blanket over him. "I feel cold all over."
Xavier nudged the thermostat up a bit, but it didn't seem to help. He could sense the boy's thoughts, confused and delirious. He seemed quite feverish as well.
It could be nothing . . .
Then again, could he afford to take any chances?
He called a doctor who he knew could be trusted, and arranged for him to come by and take a look at Remy. Then, because he had made a promise, he called Captain Wallace in Delaware and gave him the details of Remy's confession. Hopefully, this pedophile would be stopped before he did any further damage.
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"This the place?" Fred asked.
"Uh huh."
"Want me to ring the doorbell?"
"Uh . . . maybe we better handle it."
The Brotherhood had come back to the vacation cabin, after a long night of waiting for someone who never showed up. They decided to confront the X-Men and find out what they knew. If they didn't like it, they were going to have to answer to Mystique and the Brotherhood—and, ultimately, Magneto.
They were about to try the front door when they heard Kurt Wagner open the back door. Then they heard Rogue's voice: "How's Remy?"
"Remy?" Lance whispered. "That's the kid we were sent here to get!"
"Whoa!" Toad exclaimed. "What are we waiting for? Let's go get him now!"
"Will you shut up? We don't want them to hear us! Pietro, find out where the other X-Jerks are—"
"Got it!" Pietro raced around the cottage, then inside . . .
. . . where he found himself face-to-face with the X-Men, who didn't look happy to see him.
"What are you doing here?" Scott demanded. "I thought we got rid of you two days ago!"
"Well, we're back!" Pietro said. "We came for your new little friend. Where is he?"
"You think we're just gonna tell you?" Rogue snapped.
"Ooh, Roguey's mad!" Toad snickered, earning an elbow in the ribs from Lance. "Ow!"
"You guys wanna take a hint and leave now?" Scott said. "We've already kicked you out once before—next time we won't be so nice about it, trust me."
"Yeah, right!" Lance said. "Just bring out Remy LeBeau and everything is cool."
Evan gave Lance the dirtiest of dirty looks. "We're not helping you, not after you broke in here!"
"You wanna see breaking, Daniels? I'll show you—" Pietro started off in search of something fragile, but he stopped dead in his tracks and clutched at his head. "Ow! OW!"
"And that was a low-level blast," Brenda said. "I'll crank up the volume if you don't leave quietly."
The Brotherhood retreated to safer ground, except for Toad, who stood where he was. He looked at Brenda, impressed by her growing abilities. "Wow, Brenda, you been practicin'?"
"I have, actually," she said. "Why aren't you halfway down the road with your friends?"
"I wanted to see you again," Todd said, his eyes glazing over dreamily.
Brenda didn't know how to answer that. She was torn between wanting him to stay and wanting him to disappear into thin air right now. She opened her mouth to say something—
--but before she could, she heard harsh coughing from somewhere behind her. She turned to see who it was, and saw Remy lying on the couch, looking miserable. "Shouldn't you be upstairs?"
"Couldn't make it up those stairs." He tried to lift his head, but it felt like it weighed a ton and a half.
"How are you feeling?"
"Not so good." He coughed again.
"That doesn't sound good at all." She felt his forehead and was surprised at how warm he felt. "How long have you felt like this?"
"Since last night. It's gotten worse by the minute since I woke up," Remy said between coughs.
Todd was keeping his distance; germs weren't his favorite things. He really wanted to stay with Brenda, though, but sooner or later the others would notice him missing and come back. Again. So he quietly slipped out the back door while she was busy looking at Remy.
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When Todd got back to the motel, everyone looked at him as if he'd been gone for days.
"Where've you been?" Lance demanded. "Mystique is not happy! She's on her way here right now, and you know how she gets when she isn't happy!"
"And we didn't get any food, either," Fred grumbled. "Where's Room Service in this crummy joint?"
"That's only in hotels, Freddy," Pietro said.
"Isn't this a hotel?"
While Pietro explained the difference between hotel and motel, Toad waited outside for Mystique. He wanted to have a chance to explain to her about his involvement with Brenda and his reason for coming, and everything else—
"Hey, Toady," Fred interrupted, "you wanna go down to the snack machine and bust it open?"
"Huh? What?"
"I said, do you want to . . . ah, never mind." Fred lumbered off to help himself to some candy and bottled water free of charge. As for Toad, he couldn't think of anything to do or say at that moment. All he could think about was seeing Brenda again, somehow.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
The doctor arrived at the cabin less than an hour after the Brotherhood had left. By then Remy had been moved into the big bedroom on the first floor, so that Professor Xavier could more easily look after him until professional help arrived. Xavier knew the doctor well from his days researching the X gene at Oxford University. Though currently lecturing at Bayville State University, Dr. Bryce was willing to make the long drive to New Hampshire to help an old friend.
Xavier met him at the door. "Thank you for coming, Albert."
"Any time, Charles. I'm always happy to help your students."
"Well, he's not a student yet," Xavier told him as they went into the bedroom, "but I have high hopes for him."
"Ah can hear ya, ya know," Remy said from only a few feet away. It was a very small room.
"So you can." The doctor stepped over to his bedside. "I'm Dr. Bryce, and you are ?"
"Remy LeBeau." He coughed and then reached for a tissue. "Sorry."
"I'll leave you two alone," Xavier said, pushing the door closed.
"Now then," Bryce said, unpacking his black bag, "Charles tells me you're not feeling well. What exactly seems to be the problem?"
"Mah head hurts somethin' awful, and I'm so tired Ah can't even stand up right. And I keep coughing, too."
"Hmm. How long has this been going on?"
"Since yesterday. It's worse today, though."
"All right. I'm going to need to examine you. Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit."
"That's what he said."
"Who?"
"Man Ah met in Delaware. 'This won't hurt ya, darlin',' he said, and then he—"
The boy broke off, looking uncomfortable. Bryce wasn't trained in psychology, but he knew when someone was hiding something.
"It's okay," he said. "You don't have to talk about it. We'll talk about something else. You're a Southern boy?"
"New Orleans."
"My wife's family are from there. Do you have any family?"
"Not livin'."
"I'm sorry to hear that. What brings you up North?"
While they talked, Bryce checked Remy's pulse, blood pressure, and temperature. He listened to his chest, and looked down his throat.
"It'f kinna ha'd to talk wid a fermometer in mah mouf," the boy protested.
"Sorry, I forget sometimes." Bryce eased up on the conversation till the thermometer beeped.
"Well?" Remy said. "Am Ah gonna die?"
"Of course you are. Everyone dies eventually." Bryce chuckled, then realized that Remy didn't get the joke. "Never mind. What you have is a rather nasty case of the flu. As long as you get plenty of rest and drink a lot of fluids, you'll be fine in a few days. Possibly as long as a week . . . but you're certainly in no danger of dying."
"That supposed to be good news or bad news?" Remy didn't look reassured.
"That's up to you," Burke said. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to talk to Charles."
Almost as soon as he had left the room, Rogue came rushing in. "What did he say?"
"It's all raht, chere, it's just de flu. Remy be fine in a couple days."
She smiled. "Your accent gets thickah when you're tired, sugah, ya evah noticed that?"
"Wha' bout yours?"
"What 'bout it?"
"You evah listen to it? Sounds lahk somethin' outta 'Gone Wid De Wind', 'specially when yo' mad."
Rogue blushed beneath her pale makeup. "You charmer, you."
"Non, it's true. I love your voice, Roguey—it's lahk honey." Remy reached up to touch her face, but she pulled away. "What's wrong?"
"It's not you," she said, "it's me. Ah don't want ta hurt ya."
"I can take it."
"Not in yoah condition, ya can't. Maybe when yer feelin' better . . ."
"Hi guys!" Kitty had poked her head through the door—literally—at the worst possible moment.
"Kitty!"
"What? Am I, like, interrupting something?"
"Why don't ya ever knock?"
"Sor-ry! Like, excuse me for caring!" Kitty withdrew, leaving Remy and Rogue alone again.
There was a long silence.
"Uh . . . ya want anythin'? I could make ya some soup, Ah guess."
"Got any animal crackers? Ah used ta love animal crackers."
"Ah'll check. Don't go anywhere."
"That a joke, chere?"
"Yeah, does it shock ya that Ah have a sense a' humor?"
Remy just smiled at her.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
An hour later, Scott came in to check on Remy and found him asleep, Rogue lying beside him on top of the sheets. "Oh-kay," he said, "now I've seen everything." He went to close the door as quietly as possible.
He needn't have bothered. Only moments later, there was a thump and then a huge explosion that blew the front door wide open.
"Well, there goes our security deposit," Logan growled.
Mystique led the Brotherhood inside while the X-Men looked on. "We want Remy LeBeau," she said. "Hand him over at once, or we'll have to get rough."