A/N: Some new pics are up.

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Chapter 6 An Hour After Midnight – Interstate 15

"I'm not hearin' anythin', petite. Gimme une bonne raison not t' dump y' off at de next corner." Remy's eyes flicked back to the road.

His anger was palpable, both at the situation he'd managed to get them in and the fact that she'd lied to him.

Rogue sighed in resignation. Maybe if she volunteered information, she could still control how much she revealed. "Ya know about what happened at Liberty Island a coupla years ago?"

"Ouais. Heard de Sentinels mention that. All I know is some homme named Magneto was tryin' t' mutate all de members of de U.N." He said, waiting for her to elaborate.

"Yeah, well, he was too coward ta do it himself. So he was gonna use me ta run his machine instead." She bitterly answered, looking out the window as they sped down the interstate.

"Merde." Remy muttered under his breath.

The news media had immediately blown the incident out of proportion, focusing on the mutant control debate instead of the people who'd actually been hurt. There'd been no mention that Magneto had kidnapped a young girl.

"If it hadn't been for the X-Men, he'd have killed me." She hesitated a moment before adding, "My friend Logan actually saved my life."

"Logan, hein?" Remy questioned. He was distracted trying to remember a long forgotten person.

Rogue suddenly grew apprehensive. If he knew Logan, maybe he knew more about who she was then he'd let on.

Her voice rose in pitch as she nervously asked, "Ya know him?"

Remy hadn't run into many Logans in his life. Was it possible that her Logan was the same man he'd helped at Three Mile Island years ago? They hadn't spent much time together, so there were few details to remember. Even still the harder Remy focused, the more elusive the memory became. Without more information, he couldn't be certain.

"Non." He simply said. Returning to the interrogation, he asked: "Is that why yo' address is de Xavier Institute? Are y' part of de X-Men?"

"How do ya know the X-Men are part of the Institute?" Rogue countered, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

Their identities were secret. Though Rogue really didn't know how, the Professor's security methods made sure that any records tracing back to them were altered, lost, or destroyed. Was their system not as safe as they'd all assumed?

"Une, I have sources of my own. And deux, y' pretty much just admitted it yo'self." Remy fired back, reading her body language with little effort. He didn't give her a chance to argue before prompting, "What's yo' mutation?"

Rogue's head spun with all the questions he was throwing at her. It was obvious Remy had picked up on her anxiety about the X-Men. She knew she was no expert liar, but she at least thought she did a decent job when necessary. She'd have to be more careful about how she answered, but he'd already backed her into a corner with the last question. The only way out was to admit that she was a life-sucking leech.

Inspiration hit as she said, "Ah don't have one."

"Connerie." He scoffed at her response, looking away from the road to stare her down.

"What? Ah don't. Ah took the Cure." She said, looking down to her lap as the words tumbled out.

Rogue thought she could look him straight in the eye, but the shame of taking the Cure and of it wearing off burned in her cheeks instead.

What she said suddenly sunk in, making Remy realize why she'd needed him in the first place. Why she kept saying her time was short.

He gave a low whistle before saying: "Must be pretty powerful if y've lasted this long wit'out regressin'. Class 4 or 5?"

Rogue just shook her head. "Professor Xavier said Ah was a Class 3. Ah figure it'll come back any day now." There was no point in holding back that bit of honesty.

Remy disagreed. "No way. De last Class 3 holdouts regressed weeks ago. Class 4s should start in another deux weeks." His eyes bored into her as he firmly demanded, "So again, chérie, what's yo' mutation?"

There was no point in delaying the inevitable. She had no other stall tactics and honestly, she didn't want to hide any longer. At least this way, maybe he'd take pity on her and drop her off someplace she could get a ride home.

Thumping her head against the passenger window, Rogue barely breathed her answer. "It's my skin. It absorbs everythin'."

Remy simply nodded and focused his attention back on the road. Rogue was afraid of his lack of reaction, knowing he was skilled at keeping his expressions in check. Was he angry that she'd withheld the danger of her mutation? Was he upset that she'd put him at serious risk by continuing to see him after their initial night together? Or had he just not processed what she'd said to realize all that her mutation entailed?

Silence enveloped the car just as they crossed the Nevada-Arizona state line. Rogue had no clue where they were going or how far he intended to drive. It was obvious they weren't returning to Vegas any time soon. Leaning back against the headrest, she felt suddenly weary from the night's ordeal. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but vivid images of being captured by Sentinels flashed behind her eyelids.

It wasn't like she hadn't dealt with terrible nightmares before. Some of Logan's and Magneto's were truly horrific. But sessions with the Professor and Emma had taught her some mental relaxation exercises to suppress the violence. Rogue hadn't even realized she'd finally dozed off until the car hit a rumble strip on the side of the road.

She jerked herself awake, suddenly alert to the changes around them. Remy had simply moved to the fast lane and gotten a little too close to the shoulder. The rumble strips were designed to wake up tired truckers before they caused an accident. Rogue now knew they worked on her too.

Another state border sign flashed on the right hand side of the road. Welcome to Utah, Life Elevated shone in bright white letters on a colorfully painted image of a butte. Rogue glanced at the clock, realizing she'd only dozed off for maybe thirty minutes. She chanced a peek at Remy, only to see he was fully engrossed with driving. The look in his eyes told her he was a million miles away though.

Settling back in her seat, she tried to find a more comfortable position. Between the skirmish with the Sentinels and being on the road for two hours, all Rogue really wanted was a bath and a change of clothes. The dress was really uncomfortable now that it was destroyed. They drove on for another ten minutes before Remy switched lanes to take the next exit off I-15.

"Are we stoppin'?" Her benign question somehow increased the void between them.

"Non. Just need t' get a few supplies." Remy answered, still refusing to look at her.

A few minutes later, they were pulling up to a twenty-four hour Walgreens. Checking himself in the mirror, Remy shrugged off his dress shirt and used it to scrub some grime off his face. His jacket and tie were long forgotten in the back seat where he'd thrown them during their escape from Vegas.

When he was satisfied that he was presentable, he turned to her and pointed a finger in her face. "You stay put. If I have t' chase y' down, y' ain't gon' like it."

His tone was deadly, hinting at a violence she'd seen for the first time today. Remy had bragged about being a master thief, but was there more to it than that? He definitely wasn't a man to mess around with. Besides even if she did want to leave, where would she go? She had absolutely no clue where they were.

Rogue watched as he stepped out of the car wearing only his black slacks and the white wife beater that he'd worn under his dress shirt. While he was gone, she took stock of what she had with her. Through the melee, she'd somehow managed to keep a hold of her purse. All her essentials were with her: cell phone, ID (granted the fake one), debit card to her checking account, and the black AmEx issued to all staff at Xavier's. She'd managed to keep the last two hidden from Remy so he wouldn't know her real name. Briefly toying with the idea to call Logan, she pushed away the thought when Remy came back with a couple of bags.

Climbing back in the car, he tossed the items on the floor at her feet. "Put de sundries in de backpack. Change int' de clothes. An' leave de food out."

He didn't wait for her to respond before he pulled out of the parking lot and got back on the freeway. Remy had every right to be mad at her. But why keep her close if she was nothing but trouble to him now?

Rifling through the plastic bags, she found all the travel sized necessities they would need once they stopped for the night. He'd even thought to include a full size hair brush, two toothbrushes, a miniature netted bath sponge, and white gardenia scented body wash. If he was so furious at her, why go to so much trouble getting things he thought she'd want or need?

Moving to the next bag, Rogue found a couple big bags of jerky, several bottles of water, a container of fresh berries, and bag of Milano cookies. Except for the last two, she had a flashback to being in Logan's trailer for the first time. As instructed, she left the food out on the console between them and opened the two coldest bottles of water. One went into his cup holder and the other stayed on her side.

That left only one more bag other than the backpack. Inside was a pack of men's extra-large white undershirts, a pair of powder blue scrubs (who knew Walgreens sold scrub pants?), and some of those as seen on TV fold up flat shoes. There was even one of those Snuggie blankets and a packet of bikini briefs for her and boxer briefs for him.

The last two items were confusing. Rogue found a box of black hair dye and a pair of scissors. She put them in the backpack, making a mental note to ask him about them later preferably when he was in a better mood. All in all, she was impressed that he'd picked up so much stuff in such a short time. He hadn't been in there more than ten minutes.

Turning her attention to changing, Rogue started with her jewelry. She slipped off the delicate earrings and necklace, placing them in the inside pocket of her clutch. Next, she took off the belt that went with her dress and set it aside. It would come in handy later to gather up the undoubtedly too large t-shirt.

Since he'd already seen her naked, Rogue had no problem disrobing next to him. Thankful that her dress was full length, she was able to wear her normal black lace bra under it. Reaching around to undo the gown's zipper, she slipped it over her head.

She hadn't worn any hose with the gown, so she was able to shimmy into the scrubs and pull one of the tees on. Looking forlornly at the ruined dress, she folded it up and slid it into one of the pockets in the backpack along with her heels and clutch.

With all her tasks completed and Remy still in no mood to talk, she set about taking everything out of its packaging and getting it in the backpack. It probably took her forty-five minutes to get it all arranged the way she wanted since she had very little light to see. The trash was all cleaned up in one of the shopping bags too.

Frustrated and out of things to do, Rogue burst out. "Are ya gonna ignore me the whole way ta wherever we're goin'?"

He took a breath, wanting to lay into her but bit his tongue instead. "What do y' want me t' say?"

"How 'bout where we're goin' for starters." She sulked right back.

"My place in Telluride, but we're gon' have t' stop for de night. Drive's too long an' I've been up since quatre ce matin." The shortness of having been awake nineteen hours straight crept into his voice.

Rogue was going to offer to drive until he'd mentioned that last part. He'd been in bed with her when she woke up at ten. "What do ya mean, ya've been up since four? Ah didn't even get up til almost lunch and ya were with me."

"If y' haven' noticed by now that I don't sleep much, then yo' blind, chère." His response was calm and quiet, but scathing.

She wanted to argue right back at him, pick a fight so they could either move on or go their separate ways. Fact was, she had noticed he slept very little and had no explanation for it. Either he was an insomniac or it was part of his mutation. Honestly, it didn't really matter to her. Instead, she focused on getting more information out of him.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"We're halfway between Cedar City and Richfield. Quoi?" Genuine curiosity tinted his voice.

"Can ya just drop me off in Richfield then?" Her anger faded away as she realized what she was asking. "Ah'll call Logan and he'll come get me."

A fat tear rolled down her cheek. Thankfully, the soft glow of the dashboard's lights was too faint for it to be seen in the darkness. She hid brushing it away by playing with her hair.

There was a moment of silence before he muttered "Je jure." After another pause, Remy firmly answered. "No."

It was a command, like a master denying a servant. There was no further explanation and he didn't feel like elaborating, although the tension in his shoulders slumped a bit. Her request hurt him. It was his fault she was in this mess and now she wanted to leave him. If nothing else, he felt obligated to get her out of trouble before they parted ways.

His hand slammed down on the steering wheel in his frustration. Her startled jump made him feel worse than he already did.

If he hadn't taken that stupid job, he'd never have blindly handed over the identities of known mutants to that jerk off with Red Courage. A good thief never asked why his employer needed an acquired object. So when he'd accepted the job, he'd gotten the name and location of the file he was supposed to copy and nothing more. How was he supposed to know she was on that list, especially since he didn't even know if the name on her ID was real?

To make matters worse, Adam Lesser had stuck around just long enough to take the USB drive before handing it over to a lackey for processing. While Adam left to 'mingle', the other man had immediately uploaded the list via a hand held cellular device. The Sentinel onslaught began shortly thereafter. Now not only had Rogue been identified in the database, her friends at Xavier's were more than likely flagged as well. Rogue's petulant comment drew him out of his self-hatred.

"Ah could always leave next time we stop." She mouthed off.

Remy just gave her an empty smile. "Y' won't get very far."

It was a statement of fact. He vowed to protect her until he knew for sure she was safe.

"So now yer gonna hold me against my will?" Her pitch rose in panic. Surely she hadn't misjudged his character that much, had she?

When he didn't rise to her bait, her anger and determination returned. She'd bide her time, see what his plan entailed. But she'd take the first opportunity he slipped up to get away.

"Fine." Rogue stared out the window. She'd intended to give him the silent treatment, but her thoughts turned back to the hair products.

"Why'd ya buy the dye?" She asked.

He sighed at the thought of how much more damage he would have to do to her. "Your hair is too recognizable. Rewards go up for mutants identified by Sentinels. Someone on de road could turn you in. Means we have t' change it."

"Oh no." Rogue objected. "Ya ain't dyin' my hair."

"It's too dangerous. Y' have t' cut and color it." Remy countered.

"Ah've had ta hide it before. Ah'll agree to cut it, but Ah'll cover it up instead." She stubbornly folded her arms over her chest.

With no further resistance, she assumed he agreed to the compromise. Silence descended between them again. Rogue predicted that the next few hours would be miserable. If she'd made a wager, she wouldn't have been disappointed.

They drove another three painful hours before Remy finally stopped in Green River. Halfway between Richfield and Grand Junction, they'd come across the small town in the middle of the desert. With no exits and very little traffic, Remy had started to swerve but refused to let her drive.

It was just luck that they'd happened upon Book Cliff Lodge. It was a dive motel, but they were off a bit from the main interstate. If anyone was following them, it was a safe bet they wouldn't be found. The temperature had also dropped from the seventy degree weather they'd had in Vegas to a near freezing thirty-five.

Shivering as they entered their room, Rogue noticed the bedside clock shone 3:30AM. "Ugh." She groaned out in sheer fatigue. The room was freezing and the heater barely put out air warmer than outside.

Her exhaustion soon morphed into despondency when she noticed there were two beds instead of one. She couldn't understand why Remy refused to let her go if he was no longer interested in her. Why not just let her leave? It was obvious whatever relationship they had started to form was damaged maybe beyond repair.

Remy flung the bag of food on the bed closest to the door before sitting down on it. His head rested in his hands, his elbows on his knees. The curtain of his hair hid his face away from her. Wanting to warm up before crawling under thin motel linens, Rogue dropped the backpack on the other bed. She rummaged through it to find the sundries she needed and headed off toward the small bathroom.

"Ah'm takin' a shower. Ah'll cut my hair too." She threw over her shoulder, not waiting for his response.

Turning the faucets on, Rogue quickly disrobed and set the t-shirt aside to wear to bed. It was big enough to almost be a nightgown. Once she was sure the water was warm enough, she stepped into the shower. The hot spray felt good on her muscles after the long night. She took her time to let the battle grime and tension soak away before washing her hair.

It was ten to four by the time she finished cutting her hair into a shoulder length bob. She figured that would give her enough length to get it cut professionally once she got back home. When she stepped into the bedroom, the blackout curtains were pulled shut and all the lights were off. The room was pitch black. If it hadn't been for the bathroom light, Rogue wouldn't have been able to see anything. Not that she really wanted to see the scene before her anyway.

Remy was passed out on the bed he'd chosen earlier. He was still fully dressed and hadn't even bothered to get under the covers. Taking that as her queue to sleep in the other bed, she pulled the bathroom door closed so only a crack of light was barely visible. Tears stung her eyes as she climbed under the blankets and buried her face in the pillow.

He'd been so affectionate the last two weeks that Rogue couldn't help but fall for his charm. From the very beginning she'd been purposely withholding pieces of herself. But somewhere along the way, she'd given Remy more than she'd intended. His rejection hurt. She should have known better when she started out on this whole endeavor that she would never get enough experience touching to make up for a lifetime without. The little bit he'd given her had made her greedy for more.

If Remy was right and she was a Class 4 mutant, she only had days left before she would regress. So here she was stuck in the middle of nowhere with a man who was no longer interested in her. And there was little time to make it home to the people who weren't afraid of touching her, like Logan or Bobby.

Geez, Bobby! It was the first time she'd thought of him in months. When she'd left, she was so intent on getting away and experiencing what little "normal" life she could, that she hadn't bothered to let him know she left. Technically, they were taking a break from each other. But she still could have sent him a quick text if nothing else. Someone eventually would have told him she'd left. Given their history though, it should have come from her. And that guilt just added to her already morose disposition.

Easing into one of the relaxation exercises Emma taught her, Rogue quieted her mind and slipped off to sleep. With a hiccupping breath, her last thought was that it was time to give up and go home. She didn't realize her crying had woken Remy.

He glanced over at the clock, realizing he'd accidentally dozed off. The fatigue had finally gotten to him and while Rogue was in the shower, he'd laid back for just a moment's rest. Instead, he'd succumbed to sleep before he could make up with her. Glancing over at the other bed in the room, he noticed she'd crawled into a little ball by herself.

Remy sighed as he stood up. He really had wanted to talk to her, explain what was going on. At the same time, he was deathly afraid of her reaction to what he'd done. He'd basically handed her over to the Sentinel program. Would she forgive him or scream at him before leaving? Even though they'd spent every waking hour together, he still didn't know her well enough to anticipate her reaction.

Quietly, he sneaked into the bathroom for a quick shower. Once the day's dirt was washed away, he changed into a clean set of boxers and a t-shirt. He also wasn't sure if she would be receptive to him climbing in bed with her without clothes on, even though that's how they'd slept together since they met.

Lifting the covers, Remy slid in behind her to spoon her body. His arm snaked around her waist, leaving no space between them. If this was their last night together, if she decided to leave in the morning, he wanted no regrets about not spending every last minute with her. Pulling her closer to his body, Remy uneasily settled down for a few hours' sleep.

(X)

Connerie Bullshit

Je jure – I swear