Disclaimer:I don't own X-Men:Evolution, just myself (Called Molly Callum in 'fics.)
and any original characters/background characters that might pop up from time to time.
Remy went to see if Rogue was in her room. "I thought you might come see me eventually," Rogue straddled the chair of her dressing table as Remy came in and grabbed a chair that was next to Kitty's bed.
"Well we can relate now, can't we?" Remy said in a serious tone.
"Yeah," Rogue answered simply.
They stared at each other silently.
"So what do you want to know?" Rogue broke the silence.
"Just...how do you deal with it? Day in and day out? Especially in this weather," Remy pulled at the collar of his long sleeved shirt.
"It's not the easiest thing in the world, but the longer you live with it, the faster you adjust. I just hope, you know, for you it isn't permanent," Rogue looked melancholy as she stared at the floor.
"Hey I hope that for you too," Remy said in a stern tone, "You deserve happiness and to touch people as much as anyone, so don't give me any crap about how I deserve it more."
"Yeah, but you-" Rogue said.
"What? Just because I have a girlfriend doesn't mean anything. Touch is an important part of a relationship, but how we feel about each other and what we do _for_ each other is much more important," Remy said, "So you're going to have to give me a better reason then that."
"Okay, so I don't have a better reason," Rogue was starting to look grumpy, "But have you thought about how it might make her feel yet?"
Remy was surprised at the question. "No. I guess I hadn't." He'd been too upset to.
"I just hope that Molly can handle it too. That's what I meant. Not that I don't deserve it or that you do, but it takes two to make a relationship.
How is she going to feel if this goes on for a week or two or even months? You're going to have to work hard, so prepare yourself," Rogue advised.
"I hadn't thought of that," Remy admitted, "I guess I will then. I'll try. Um...so anyway...what do you do when your hands get all sweaty in the gloves?"
Rogue smiled a little, "Just carry around lots and lots of wet naps and dress as coolly as you can. Stay away from black in the summer because it soaks up sunlight. Try wearing white. It deflects it better."
Remy wrinkled his nose. White wasn't his favorite color and didn't look very good on him.
"Good to know, I guess."
They kept talking for a while. About fabrics and what to wear mostly. It had to be one of the more odd conversations Remy had since guys didn't usually talk about clothing very much.
"Uh, not to get personal, but Molly was concerned too. What am I supposed to do in the men's showers?
I mean, it's not like we're, I don't know, giving each other high fives while in our towels, but it does seem to carry a risk," Remy asked with trepidation. He didn't want Rogue slapping him (or worse) for being intrusive.
"Just keep your distance and don't slip on soap," Rogue broke into a smile.
"Yeah, Molly kind of told me about that," Remy laughed.
"At least she landed on Jean and not me. We would have had a real mess on our hands then. I mean,
Jean was dressed by then, but it was just so ridiculous," Rogue laughed a little, remembering the incident.
"Thanks for the support," Remy said, "If you ever need anything, you know where to find me."
"I do need something actually," Rogue said, "There's cookies downstairs and I need something to eat while I read."
"You're sure? Your face is looking a little chubby lately," Remy teased, starting to feel like himself again.
"If you don't want to end up unconscious in the hallway in two seconds..." Rogue threatened.
"Just teasing!" Remy held up his hands, "I'll be back in a minute."
Molly received a knock on her door. She'd gotten off of the phone ten minutes ago. It had been a good phone call.
"Cookie?" Remy held it out to her, eating one himself.
"Depends. Do I get to lick the bits of chocolate off your glove?" Molly purred flirtatiously.
"Sure," Remy smiled. He took the glove off and held it out, "Here you go."
Molly just playfully scowled in response as Remy put the glove back on, then they sat on her bed.
"How did talking with Rogue go?"
"Really good, but she did bring up a rather interesting point," Remy said, "Are _you_ going to be okay with this? We don't know how long it's going to last.
It could take years for it to wear off for all we know."
Molly's heart sank. "I-I didn't think of that."
"There's a lot to think about. More then we realized. If I'm like this for a long time and if we did decide to get married, then it's probable that we wouldn't be able to...to have sex," Remy calmly explained.
Molly swallowed as she started tearing up, "Well...well it's probably overrated anyway! And you can't miss what you never had, r-right?"
Tears started rolling faster down her face and everything became blurry as the water works started. The thought wasn't lost on her as Remy slowly and a bit reluctantly hugged her against his chest.
"I think in this case that doesn't apply," Remy said, "I know you want to rationalize everything and think that we could live without it, but we just couldn't. We're too young for that. Besides, it's like we were saying, we're both human with natural human wants and desires. So no matter how strong our love is, it couldn't override our most powerful urges."
"I know. I mean...I guess I know," Molly stammered, "Except I want to be with you. I would want to marry you, Remy, wether we could touch or not!
You're _mine_, whatever happens to you! I'm sure we could figure out something."
"Maybe. I just don't want to hold you back from have a complete life," Remy said.
"You are being ridiculous," Molly was getting a little angry and squirming out of the hug almost furiously, "I have a complete life. There's so much more to it then what I do with my body, you know? Us...us being together...that's what makes me feel complete."
Remy nodded, "Yes. You're right. Earlier I told Rogue something similar. Sorry for upsetting you."
"Well I'm sorry for you feeling like this. Maybe you're right, love isn't that strong, but maybe you're wrong too," Molly said determinedly.
"Maybe," Remy answered.
"W-wait a minute," Molly suddenly looked embarrassed again, "You _weren't_ talking to Rogue about us and...that...were you?"
"No!" Remy was shocked," No, of course not! She just made me realize it. We were just talking about how it would effect you since the whole thing is indefinite. So it just got me thinking about things like that is all. I wouldn't do that and I'm positive Rogue would never want to hear it anyway."
Molly smiled again, "Okay. I don't know, I'm really hoping it is only temporary. That kid-Jake or Verve or whatever he calls himself-said it usually wears off."
"We'll just have to wait and see," Remy grabbed Molly and hugged her again.
The day wore on as normal after that. The two of them both had errands to run, so they took Remy's car downtown.
After the bank and the cleaners, they were walking back to the car trying to decide where to go for lunch.
"So...Mexican or Chinese?" Remy asked.
"I think Chinese. We haven't had it in a while," Molly said.
They arrived at the restaurant, only to find a familiar face. Magneto's goon Blaze was sitting in the dining room with chow mien hanging out of her mouth, looking more then surprised. She slurped up the rest of her food and quickly whisked back the red hair hanging in her eyes. She piled the rest of the food in her mouth in seconds, swallowing it in one big gulp. "Well, looks like I've got to run," She smirked at them. The next thing they knew, she was just a blur and a "whoosh" sound.
"I'm going to try and get her," Molly turned into a cheetah before Remy could stop her.
Molly ran out the entrance and down the sidewalk. Blaze was in sight, but Molly couldn't seem to catch up, even at Cheetah speed.
Blaze stopped and Molly skidded to a halt, sliding into a bunch of open crates of apples in front of a warehouse. They landed everywhere and Molly found herself covered in mushy fruit. Molly shook her head and struggled to get up as Blazed laughed. "Applesauce anyone?" Blaze chortled.
Blaze sped over to mock Molly. "Cheetah a la mode? Baked cheetah? Apples, bacon and cheetah? Wow, you're probably going to smell like apples all week!"
Molly finally got out of the mess and changed back. They were at least a few miles from the restaurant, easily. Now it was a face off.
"Why are you back here? What have you done with the Professor?" Molly said, still covered in apple mush.
"What, a girl can't super speed back to her favorite Chinese restaurant once in a while?" Blaze said, "Your beloved Professor is fairly safe. I mean, we're feeding him at least. He's not bruise-free and he blacks out someti-"
Blaze was interrupted by Molly rushing over and pushing the lithe girl back around into the cement front of the warehouse. Molly held on tight to Blaze's shoulders. Blaze was a head taller and of course much faster, but now that she was cornered, Molly knew that those things wouldn't mean much as Molly changed half-way into a gorilla. Enough for a little bulk and strength, but still able to speak. Hot, scraggly fur covered Molly's body and her face became rubbery and her hands were now big and leathery. Not a pretty sight, but it would at least keep Blaze still.
"You just let your mouth run enough to make me good and furious," Molly was seething, "You're coming back with us and you're going to tell us everything."
"Yeah right. You can just-" Blaze said, then a fist the size of a canned ham knocked her out cold.
The gorilla was starting to become one of Molly's favorite morphs. Maybe she could start using it more often.
Molly's communicator crackled to life with Remy on the other end, threatening that if she didn't contact him soon, she was going to be in big trouble.
"Relax! I'm by that big warehouse next to the fish market," Molly said, changed back.
"Did you find Blaze?" Remy's voice dripped with aggravation. He was mad at Molly, that was clear.
"I got her. Knocked her out. Hurry up. There's people coming," Molly heard voices and footsteps within the warehouse.
"My apples! Geru neerd! My apples! You pay for apples!" A heavy set, muscular blonde man spoke in a mix of Dutch and broken English.
He seemed more concerned with his apples then with the fact that there was an unconscious teenage girl slumped on the ground. For Molly, that was a relief.
The less questions, the better.
"Yeah, that was kind of my fault. Um, I ran into them. How much?" Molly said dryly, grabbing globs of it from her hair.
"Four hundred dollars!" The man demanded, still red faced.
Molly's mouth fell open.
"Uh, okay...I guess," Molly stood there, then realizing she was without her purse, so she was also without her wallet, "Honestly, my boyfriend is on his way with the car. Can you take a credit card?"
"Yes," The man said, staring at her with suspicion. He was probably thinking that Molly was going to run.
Thankfully, a few seconds later, Remy showed up. "Petite, what did you do?" he looked at Molly while picking Blaze up, and putting her in the backseat.
"Got in a lot of trouble," Molly ran to the car and fished out her wallet, taking care of the charge and getting in the car.
They drove home in silence for a while.
"I know you're mad," Molly said quietly, hunched up against the window, "But I was just trying to give us a leg up."
"Of course I'm mad. If being an X-Man should've taught you anything, it's that you don't rush into something without a plan," Remy kept his eyes on the road.
"Sometimes there isn't time for plans," Molly said, "I saw an opportunity and I took it. You should be proud of me."
"Part of me is, but none of us is invincible either. I think that you have this idea that just because you can turn into everything and heal fast that you're seeing yourself as untouchable and you aren't. What would have happened if she'd gotten you with one of her sonic blasts or something? Blaze hits hard and fast," Remy said.
"Okay, okay! So I screwed up again! I guess I'm just impulsive lately," Molly said.
"You're really not acting like yourself," Remy observed.
"Well maybe I'm just growing up a little. Not being so timid," Molly's eyes darted to Remy and back to the window.
"Really dumb way to go about it, don't you think?" Remy said.
"I don't know. I'm sorry, I know I can't excuse it and I know I keep messing up. I just...I have all these ideas and stuff and I can't help it.
I just act on how I feel and hope it's for the best," Molly winced a little.
"Just try to follow your head a little more instead of your heart. I don't want you getting hurt," Remy ran a hand down her face as they parked in the School's garage.
"I'll try," Molly said quietly.
They took Blaze down to the infirmary, then went back upstairs and decided to order in their Chinese food.
"Oh, this is so good!" Molly groaned, her head tipped back and hot steam coming from the food piled in her mouth, "They make the best spicy tofu over there!"
"I know you like it, but you might want to start blowing on it first," Remy observed.
"Can't. Too hungry," Molly said between bites.
They soon finished eating, then went downstairs to check on Blaze...Tiffany. She was still unconscious and was estimated to be for quite some time, but her vitals were steady, so that was good to hear.
"She's not going to be happy when she wakes up," Molly stared at the yellow-skinned girl, Blaze's long red hair framing her face reminded Molly of fire combined with the color of her skin.
"She'll just have to deal with it. It's not like we're going to torture her or something," Remy leaned against the wall nearest to him,
crossing his arms and staring at Molly, "We'll just need to coerce the information out of her slowly."
"She seemed dead set against talking," Molly explained, "I really don't know how we're going to get her to open up to us."
"I think I have an idea," Remy smiled. He dashed upstairs and after some time came back with Dani Moonstar.
"Hey, that's right! Dani can reveal a persons greatest desire. So you're plan is trading that for the information?" Molly smiled excitedly.
"Exactly," Remy said.
"What if she wants something we can't give her?" Dani said as she took a chair and sat next to Blaze's bed to concentrate.
"We'll just cross that bridge when we come to it," Remy said.
"Do you want us to leave?" Molly asked politely.
"No, just please try to stay quiet so I can concentrate," Dani instructed.
The three of them waited as Dani closed her eyes and focused. A few minutes passed and they were rewarded with a projection of Blaze playing with a little girl that looked like her in miniature, but without the yellow skin, instead she was Caucasian with freckles. She was a cute little girl in a blue plaid dress with her hair in pigtails sitting with Blaze on a tire swing.
Then Blaze being taken away by the police as the little girl cried buckets.
The projections stopped.
"Her little sister I guess," Dani said.
"We need more information," Remy said. He quickly got out his communicator and called Jean downstairs, explaining the situation.
Jean did a mind scan of Blazes mind, thorough yet quick because Blaze's story wasn't too complex and she hadn't learned how to protect herself against telepaths.
"Blaze lived with her grandparents and her younger sister in Kansas when her powers emerged," Jean said, "She wasn't really a good kid, so after multiple felonies, her being a mutant was the last straw for her grandparents and they called the police. Kansas isn't what you'd call progressive.
Blaze misses her sister and just wants her in her life again. Oh, and if you're interested, Blaze's real name is Tiffany Sanders. Her little sister is Francis."
Jean wrote down the address of Blaze's old house in Kansas, saying she would tell Scott and gather up the team.
"Looks like we're going to Kansas!" Remy clapped his hands together, rubbing them excitedly.
"I...I don't know...if it's such a good idea f-for you to go, Remy," Molly slumped down in her seat, staring into the floor.
They were now alone in the room again.
"Aw, what? Because I got a couple little bumps on the head? I'll be _okay_," Remy ruffled Molly's hair.
"I don't want you to go," Molly started crying, "I don't want anything bad to happen to you again!" She jumped out of her chair and hugged Remy tight.
Remy sighed, letting Molly calm down before he spoke again, "I wasn't thrilled with being knocked out either, but I really can take care of myself.
You're not going to lose me, Cherie, really.-Molly? Sweetheart?"
Molly just stood there with her arms wrapped around Remy as she stared out into space. A lump had formed in her throat and all she could feel was fear and worry as the last remaining tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked back up at Remy, but slowly, like she couldn't bear to look at him.
"I-I know you can take care of yourself. I know that," Molly said shakily, "I also know I can't make you stay, so just please _please_ be careful this time."
"I will be very careful. You're going to worry yourself sick about me you know," Remy said, wiping her eyes.
"I'm not!" Molly protested, "What do you want me to think anyway? If I didn't worry, I wouldn't be a good girlfriend."
"I suppose not," Remy said with a big smile.
AN: No offense meant to Kansas or anyone living there. (Besides, I had to place Blaze living somewhere, you know?) It's actually a little shout out to the show 'Smallville' more then anything else. Oh, and Molly was eating General Tso's Tofu. It's really, really good if you can find it at a Chinese place. It's one of my favorite dishes lately. It's a little spicy, but I love it (and I like spicy food too.) I am learning to make it at home, but have not perfected the recipe yet.